The Unseen Movie Review

Be Cool

Get Shorty saw John Travolta on a post-Pulp Fiction high, enjoying popularity the likes of which he hadn’t known since Saturday Night Fever and Grease. As mobster turned film producer Chili Palmer he seemed to prove that his run of bad films throughout the 1980s was more to do with studio politics than any lack of talent. His apparently easy charm combined perfectly with an amusing plot and some fun supporting performances from various big names to make an enjoyable film which seemed easily to secure his rediscovered star status.

Today, Travolta’s star has once again plummeted – thanks to a succession of dire turns in the likes of Swordfish, Ladder 49 and the near-official worst film of all time, Battlefield Earth – and he is in dire need of a fresh hit. Add to that the fact that since he has put on a lot of weight – and especially with the slicked-back hairdo he sports here – he has begun to bear a striking resemblance to laughing stock action “star” Steven Segal, he must be aware that, without a new big success, being forced into another Look Who’s Talking film is only a matter of time.

So, in the absence of any more parts in Tarantino flicks, ten years after Get Shorty showed that Pulp Fiction wasn’t a fluke we finally get the sequel which was rumoured even as the first film was still in cinemas. The fact that the tagline to this movie is “Everybody is looking for the next big hit”, and that Travolta has somehow managed to rope in his old Pulp Fiction co-star Uma Thurman to do a repeat performance of their dancing scene from that movie, simply makes the desperation even more obvious. The only confusing thing remains the awful title – why not simply call it Get Shorty 2?

If you want to revive your career in a slick Hollywood-set comedy, getting in a load of your big-name buddies is a superb idea. So we get James Woods, Danny DeVito, Harvey Keitel, Vince Vaughn, wrestler The Rock, comedian Cedric the Entertainer and even Aerosmith all strutting their stuff alongside Travolta and Thurman, and all seem to be having a stupidly fun time. Vaughn and The Rock in particular are evidently having the time of their lives with their overly silly characters.

Just because the actors are enjoying themselves does not, however, necessarily guarantee that the audience are going to enjoy watching it. Being an actor, Travolta seems to have concentrated too much on the cast, not enough on the plot, dialogue or – especially – direction. Not up to the task himself, he got in the cheapest hack director he could find – the man responsible for the simply appalling Italian Job remake. Where the first film was expertly adapted from a good Elmore Leonard novel, this has been written from scratch by the man responsible for tedious “comedy” sequel Analyze That.

Without enough plot, they’ve opted for as many musical interludes as possible to pad out the runtime, many of which are only moderately excusable thanks to the central conceit that Travolta’s ex-gangster is branching out into the music biz with promising starlet Linda Moon (played by promising starlet Christina Milian). Sadly the music is not up to scratch either.

This may be being harsh. There is some enjoyment to be had here. But considering the acting talent involved it is far, far less than it might – and indeed should – have been. To win back his fans Travolta must do much, much more than this.

posted by Nosemonkey @ 12:00 AM