Scenes From The Screen
So many choices. So little time.
Picking a movie or TV show can be overwhelming and with so many out there how do you know which one is worth your time?
Scenes From the Screen is here to shine a spotlight on all types of films and TV: from obscure and forgotten to prestigious and rotten; from must see to "Are you kidding me?" Big screen and small, we cover it all.
Hosted by Sean and his band of merry movie misfits, new episodes drop every Saturday morning at 9am.
Scenes From The Screen
Get Shorty (1995) & Be Cool (2005)
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John Travolta headlines both the 1995 comedy Get Shorty as well as whatever the sequel Be Cool was trying to be in 2005. Hollie and I talk about the similarities and differences in the two films. Was there ever a bigger discrepancy in quality between a film and its sequel?
Episode contains minimal profanity and some spoilers.
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Thanks for listening and be sure to come back next week!
Welcome back to Scenes from the Screen, where we talk about all types of films and TV. Obscure, forgotten, prestigious, rotten, from must-see to "Are you kidding me?" Big screen and small, we cover it all. Who knows? You might discover a new gem or be reintroduced to an old favorite. My name is Sean, and I'll be your host. So we've we've known each other uh just slightly over 17 years.
HollieThat's how you're starting this one?
SeanYes.
HollieOkay.
SeanAnd we've been married for just a smidge under 15.
HollieRight.
SeanSo I have one question. We're gonna start off with Get Shorty. I've mentioned it to you before, I've seen it before, you've seen it before. What are my feelings on Get Shorty?
HollieYou really like Get Shorty a lot. It's one of your favorite movies.
SeanI yeah, I mean it it's it's it's up there. I mean, Get Shorty is well, let's go. I'll go into the story for those who don't know what Get Shorty is.
HollieCan we spoil this one?
SeanYes, we can yeah, we'll spoil it because I 'll put spoiler alert. Yeah, this is well, yeah, it's uh 31 years old. Yes, so we're gonna be. So we can spoil this one. Yeah, and if you haven't seen it, you should. Anyway, so Get Shorty stars John Travolta as Chili Palmer, a loan shark who gets involved in the movie business when he sets out to retrieve money owed by a client who faked his own death. He finds that the movies may be as ruthless as lone sharking while trying to secure diminutive and celebrated actor Martin Weir, played by Danny DeVito, to star in a pet project by Gene Hackman's goofball producer Harry Zimm. Chili has to sidestep gangsters Ray Bones and Bo Catlett, played by Dennis Farina and Del roy Lindo, respectively, while getting close to B movie star Karen Flores, portrayed by Rene Russo. Uh Chili also works for Momo and is protected. But when Momo dies of a heart attack after a surprise party, all of Momo's things fall under Jimmy Capp, who Ray Bones works for. And that's all one of the best lines of the movie comes up later on when Gene Hackman's producer says, Momo , Bones, where the fuck do you get these names from?
HollieYeah.
SeanI love this movie. It's I can't, I mean, I can't sing its praises enough.
HollieI have to admit, when I first saw Get Shorty 30 years ago, I didn't really like it that much. I did like it, I did like it now better. I did actually like the movie.
SeanOkay.
HollieI didn't the first time I saw it.
SeanSo it's based on a book of the same name by Elmore Leonard, scripted by Scott Frank, and it was directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, who also did Men in Black, Addams Family. The screenplay is great. When your source material is Elmore Leonard, it's kind of hard to fuck that up, but but people do.
HolliePeople can.
SeanRight. I had read somewhere where you know, I guess when they were writing the movie, that they changed the dialogue, but Travolta insisted that some of Elmore Leonard's dialogue, uh all of it, if he as much as you can be left in there. Because Elmore Leonard writes great dialogue, it's very terse to the point. You know, it's how people speak too.
HollieYeah, like I said, I did enjoy it a lot more. I looked at it differently too this time.
SeanHow so?
HollieAlso I think the first time I watched it, I was looking at it as a John Travolta movie, and I didn't really think about it as with the cinematography and the way it was directed, and I really didn't think about the dialogue as much. And to me, the first time I saw it was just stupid. I thought the premise was stupid, but this time I I did really enjoy it.
SeanDid I have any influence on you with that kind of stuff or like dialogue and...
HollieYes, you influenced me to look at movies differently than just watching them. Now I kind of look at them differently and I tear them apart a little bit more and look at different things that I typically...
SeanIs that good or bad?
HollieGood. I think it's good. Yeah, I think it's good. I mean, I I noticed it before, but I just didn't have the language or the reason to talk about it before, I think. Like I might have said, Oh, I really liked, you know, I like that movie. I'm not sure why. Now I know I like that movie because of how it was shot, or you know, the fast paced of the dialogue, or the you know, I only valued a movie based on the actors.
SeanI I I understand. Well, I was reading this book right before the movie came out. So I was about halfway through when it came out. So I'm like, I have to go see this. And I heard I think I saw it by myself, which is weird because later on down the road, probably I think the next year or so, I had a friend who quoted this movie as much as I did. It actually follows the book I'd probably eight, 90%, maybe it's right there. I mean, it's in the book was so good, and I was like, I can't, I gotta see this movie. I gotta see and the movie did not disappoint.
HollieNo, like I said, I really I I did enjoy that time a lot. I forgot who all was in it, too.
SeanOh, there's tons of people.
HollieAnd some of these are my favorite. Like I think too, when I first watched it, the only person I really knew was John Travolta, of course Danny DeVito I knew, and the old guy. The producer.
SeanThe old guy? Oh, uh Gene Hackman.
HollieGene Hackman.
SeanOkay.
HollieSo I knew those people, and this time, like I Dennis Farina is one of my I love him in everything he does.
SeanHe honestly...
HollieI love Dennis Farina.
SeanYes, I I don't think anyone around that time was better at playing a bad guy, even a cartoonish one, as Dennis Farina. I mean, you see him in this, you saw him in Midnight Run, just fantastic. And he was he was great as a you know, as a good guy too. But I mean he played a bad guy so well.
HollieHe did, he always played that like that low-level mafia, you know, get screwed over, but still does what he's supposed to do, kind of guy in a funny way, so well. Like I can't think of the name of the movie where they filmed it in Miami and he was from New York and he had to go to Miami and he was sweating. And I'll have to think of that movie and see if you've ever seen it. And it's he's just awesome. I love him. So that made me like the movie more, too, is all the other people that were in it. That my typical way of liking a movie is by the actors, so that made me enjoy it more.
SeanYeah, I mean, that's what made me a fan of Delroy Lindo because...
HollieOh yeah I love him.
Sean...I've never seen anything before that. I mean, Jon Gries, who plays Uncle Rico in Napoleon Dynamite, and...
HollieUh what's his face?
SeanRusty on Seinfeld.
HollieYeah, but uh James Gandolfini.
SeanJames, yeah, Gandolfini's in it.
HollieAnd I totally forgot he was in it, and he was he was awesome.
SeanHe was, and he so he shares a scene with Gene Hackman, and they were in Crimson Tide the same year, so they did two movies together...
HollieHe was in Crimson Tide too?
Sean...basically at the same time. Yeah, Gandolfini has a small role in Crimson Tide as well. So and the characters are all they're smart and savvy in varying degrees, even when they're generally stupid, they're at least kind of street smart and real, they feel real. Like, for example, Harry Zimm, Gene Hackman's character, he is a complete idiot when Chili gives him specific instructions of what to do, and he disregards everything he says immediately.
HollieThey don't believe Chili, like why would they believe uh uh the word is Shylock?
SeanShylock, right.
HollieWhy would they believe the Shylock from Brooklyn you know when they're in LA? Like they don't even realize and...and...
SeanBut he doesn't realize what he's dealing with in terms of the gangsters in LA either.
HollieRight.
SeanI don't think he realizes the danger that he's in. He does, but he doesn't.
HollieRight, I don't think he...
SeanBecause he goes, what he says at one point, oh I just I just told him that. He goes, What does that mean? It doesn't mean anything, but it does, you know, because Chili says, Well, I I say what I mean.
HollieRight. And I think that he's not used to people not being afraid of him because they don't know him here. So people were not afraid of Chili Palmer in LA, where I bet in New York, when Chili Palmer came to see you, people were afraid of him.
SeanSo he has name recognition right out there.
HollieSo out at in LA, he didn't get that. And I think that was interesting how John Travolta played that.
SeanI agree. Uh I like, I mean, everything about this movie, and as I as I watch it again, you know, it just reminds me of how the the it's fast-paced, it's and very well edited. The camera angles are fantastic. Yeah, the way Sonnenfeld shoots even like flying planes...
HollieYeah.
Sean...and tilting when you know, when Delroy Lindo's looking overlooking the the pool down below, and it...
HollieHe makes you feel you're there.
Sean...kind of the camera comes up. Yes, yeah. It it's the I mean everything in this movie, not just the actors, everything is a character.
HollieRight. And when he when people walk, how the camera follows them, like you it's it's weird because you I didn't realize how many backs of the heads you really saw because you feel like you're part of the movie, because you're walking with John Travolta, like they don't show John Travolta walking towards the camera.
SeanWell, when he gets out of the cab at the or not the cab, but he gets out of the other guy's car at the beginning.
HollieYeah.
SeanRight. And I love how I remember I told you that the woman coming out opened, she opens the door to come out, but the door sticks, so he doesn't have to worry about opening two. And that's really great planning in terms of continuity and everything blocking.
HollieAnd that's not something I ever paid attention to, but I did like that a lot. And that was when John Travolta was doing his comeback, and I wasn't sure I was liking John Travolta at that time, and I think that kind of tainted my view of this movie. But like I said, yeah, I turned out that I really do enjoy John Travolta a lot. So...
SeanWell, that was he had a great run around that time. I mean, he had Pulp Fiction in '94, he had this in '95. He had Phenomenon in '96, which I liked. I know it's sappy.
HollieMichael.
SeanMichael, he did have Michael, yep. So he did have a great run, which you know, eventually he would squander, but that's beside the point. I can't picture anyone else as this character.
HollieNo.
SeanLike when I was reading it, you know, this this reminded me in a way of uh I don't know if you've ever read the Fletch books, which eventually we're gonna do the Fletch movies, but if you read the books, which I didn't until after I saw the Chevy Chase movies, I don't see Chevy Chase in that role. If I would have read those beforehand, I probably wouldn't have seen the movies, but I love the movies separately from that. So, but this he does it so well. I mean, he's like an Italian gangster, which I never would have imagined. Yeah, he played in Italian in Saturday Night Fever, but I just wouldn't have pictured him ever as a gangster to have that, even with Pulp Fiction, not this kind of cool gangster.
HollieRight. Not not this kind of gangster, no. He he played it very flat and very like Chili doesn't have a lot of emotion, it's just very direct, very straightforward, and that's not typical John Travolta. So I really liked how he did that.
SeanRight, I I agree. There's some great lines in this. I mean, this is a highly, highly quotable film for me. I don't I don't know if it is for you.
HollieI don't remember them all, but I like like the I I just don't remember them. But I there's a there's one when they're at the table, they're meeting Danny DeVito, and he was late. And Rene Russo's like, he's gonna, she tells everybody what he's gonna order. And and he goes...
SeanOh, that's uh...
Hollie...something like wont' he look at the menu. And she goes, Actors never order off the menu, or something like that. I thought that was really funny. And he, Danny DeVito, when he came, he did exactly what she said he was and he ordered....
SeanI want an egg white omelet, I want the shallots slightly brown but with olive oil.
Hollie...ordered for the table, and then he got up and left and never ate it.
SeanRight, never ate it, and they didn't want anything. They didn't want that.
HollieHe ordered for them. I just I thought that was so...
SeanLike self-indulgent and narcissistic.
HollieYeah, narcissistic, yeah. Like like they're so important just because they're an actor.
SeanBut you know, in terms of well, so more lines that I and I this one I forgot about in this time around, where when he goes to see the guy who defrauded the insurance company with his wife, he goes to see the wife. Oh, the yeah, and she says, I trust you, Chili. I think you're a decent type of man, even if you are a crook.
HollieRight.
SeanThere are such great lines.
HollieHe was a very... he didn't sneak around.
SeanNo, he was very upfront with people.
HollieRight, he he was very direct and upfront. He he was a he was a nice person and also a loan shark.
SeanYes, yeah. Yeah, only so more lines, you know. Again, Dennis Farina probably has the best lines of of this film.
HollieHe does.
SeanIt's Chili inside, it's chilly outside, it's a regu... regular fucking chili fest, or the one I used to use all the time. They say the fucking smog is the fucking reason you have such beautiful fucking sunsets here. That's that is genius.
HollieYeah.
SeanAnd the way he delivers...because he's so bored, you know, when he's saying...
HollieOh he hates it there.
SeanOh, he does, absolutely.
HollieHe hates it so much, and and he's just so fed up and he hates John Travolta. So going to LA, he made him hate John Travolta's character, Chili Palmer, even more because he doesn't like the heat and the weather and all that crap. He just hated everything.
SeanYeah, what I love about this movie too is it really pokes fun at the movie business and celebrity in general.
HollieCelebrity a lot, yeah.
SeanI saw something in this film I told you that I'd never seen before, and I wanted you to notice it, is when Chili is in the airport and he goes to buy some souvenirs because he knows he's being set up, so he wants to kind of put stuff in a locker. So while he's standing there, nearly every magazine on that rack has Martin Weir, who's in Martin Weir's face on it. Even Playboy had his name on it, yeah, which I thought was the most hysterical. I was actually looking to see if his face was somewhere on that, you know, like where they hide the bunny on all the covers of Playboy. I thought maybe Danny DeVito would be on there somewhere. But I mean, he was in Forbes. He was on, you know, obviously Newsweek, stuff like that, but when you see him in Forbes magazine for what what reason? I mean, that that was hysterical.
HollieYeah, it's just it did like say about how people, how celebrities become big for not really any reason. You know, I like how Danny DeVito, we all know what Danny his physique, and they were talking about him playing roles and how he could do these great roles of these big men. And Danny DeVito is just not a big man, and it just shows you how fake Hollywood is. He's just not a big man.
SeanWhere that's where the title comes from too, Get Shorty, you know, in terms of they're trying to get him to be it in well the movie Mr. Lovejoy, but it turns out he's more interested in John Travolta's kind of autobiographical tale, going after the man who defrauded the yeah, the the airline for faking his own death. So the only the only issue I had, and I told you this was that weird angle of Travolta from the side. When he and Rene Russo are talking to Danny DeVito, they shoot everything normally, but but then they cut to and maybe it was reshoots. I don't, I don't know.
HollieYeah, it didn't fit.
SeanBut it was from the side, it was very odd.
HollieYeah, it didn't fit. So I bet you I'm imagining that it was something happened that they had to do it real quick, or you know, like you said, a reshoot because that just didn't fit. It kind of took you out for a minute.
SeanYeah, and that's something I really I noticed it before, but it I mean it doesn't bother me, bother me, but it kind of does.
HollieWhen there's some asshole sitting next to you that points this out, kind of took me out of the film.
SeanYeah, I'm sorry, you know, but I just thought, you know, you should know. So Travolta's best role. What do you think?
HollieBest role? I it's up there. I don't know if I'd say it was his best one, but I definitely put it in his top top five.
SeanI I would say I think it's his best role. I don't think anyone else could inhabit that character like he for the for Get Shorty. I don't think anyone else could have done a better job. And I think I think he he did an amazing, amazing work in that film. Everyone did though.
HollieLike I said, it wasn't your typical John Travolta.
SeanNo, no, I thought he was way better. He was great in Pulp Fiction, but he was way better in this film. The only thing that comes close would be maybe Saturday Night Fever.
HollieI don't know, I just...
SeanWhat about The Boy in the Plastic Bubble?
HollieLet's not.
SeanI love The Boy in the Plastic Bubble.
HollieNo, that's not a good movie.
SeanIt's it's not, but...
HollieYou know, it had its moment back then. But I um Pulp Fiction to me is like I don't know. That's when I think of John Travolta, I think Pulp Fiction. That's the first thing that pops into my head. And then I go back to Saturday Night Fever and Welcome Back Kotter and
SeanWell, I mean, movie-wise. Yeah Welcome Back Kotter. I mean...
HollieBut when someone says to me...
SeanHe's always gonna be Barbarino.
Hollie...John Travolta's in that I picture his Vincent.
SeanWhat? Where?
HolliePicture Vincent.
SeanUh, ok.
HollieThat's what I do.
SeanOkay, yeah. So this is, you know, so I was looking this up. It's only a 6.9 on IMDb out of 10. What? On Rotten Tomatoes, it's 89%, which is I I again I think it should be higher. I'm a little bit more biased. I think it's a fucking great movie. But I don't understand. How do you how do you make this a six point? No, it's it's a near for me, it's a near-perfect film.
HollieYeah, I I like it was good.
SeanAnyway, like I said, highly watch rewatchable.
HollieFast paced.
SeanI if it was on right now, I would I would watch it. I mean, I watched it twice this week.
HollieYes, you did.
SeanBut yeah, this is one you definitely I mean, I definitely love to talk about.
HollieI and I would re-watch it now. I I was not excited when you first said, you know, let's watch Get Shorty. I'm like, yeah, kind of whatever. You like that movie, I'll watch it again. I mean, I'll watch anything. And...
SeanYou sound so excited. I'll watch anything. You make me watch.
HollieYeah, but I then I I did I really did enjoy it this time.
SeanYeah, I like I said it it is it is really good. I happen to have it on...
HollieDanny DeVito was awesome too.
SeanHe's great in it.
HollieHe plays such a like prick.
SeanWell, when he's trying to emulate a Shylock...
HollieYeah.
Sean...you know, and he's when his eyes narrow and he goes, What are you sleepy? You're trying to tell me when you go to bed. And that's because to for those two to work off each other like that, that that's great. Yeah. I mean, I happen to I own the Blu-ray of this because I think it's phenomenal. Buy it. I highly suggest buying it, but it is available on Tubi, Roku, and Pluto for free.
HollieYeah, so you don't have to buy it.
SeanYes, you should. Okay, so I'm gonna ask you the same question. So, again, we've known each other 17 years, a little over. We've been married almost 15. What do you think my thoughts are on Be Cool?
HollieIt sucks.
SeanThe sequel... that's what you think my thoughts are?
HollieYes.
SeanI was I was actually wondering why the MPAA shouldn't have gotten a new standard to keep this away from the eyes of children. Because it's so this is would be child abuse to show it to actually it'd be adult abuse to show it to anyone. I fucking hated this. I I mean I can't my anger was building that night. I don't know if you could tell.
HollieI was hoping you didn't like it because I think I loved him again. I thought John Travolta played Chili awesomely. They kept some the director who was not Sonnenfeld, right?
SeanIt was not, no, he did not do the sequel.
HollieThank god. Kept some of the same type of feel I thought at times. Didn't stick to it, but at times. I did like uh her in it. I like her in everything though.
SeanUma Thurman?
HollieYeah. I like Uma Thurman. I mean, I think she's cute, she's just one of those people you every movie you want to know her, like you want to know that character. You know, she always makes you even when she plays someone like the one where she played the in the never mind, the dog movie where she was a kind of a ditzy. You just she just seems like a likable person, and I always I always liked Uma Thurman movies, and I think the chemistry between Uma Thurman and John Travolta is obvious in movies.
SeanYeah, that you're right. I and there and there's that one scene where...
HollieAnd I like to see them together again. They did the they did a dance, same like they did in Pulp Fiction, and I like that. But overall, the movie? Dumb. The storyline was dumb. I didn't like that he went from being all in with the movie business and he loved movies and he knew so much about old movies and the history of movies in Get Shorty, but then in this one, he didn't want to be in the movies anymore? All of a sudden, he did one movie, now he don't want to be in it. Yeah, I just thought it didn't make sense.
SeanOkay, so I mean uh there's a I'm gonna go off on a whole bunch of things...
HollieOk, you go off.
Sean...on this movie because I went into it with open open mind. Like I, you know...
HollieHad you seen it before?
SeanI had not, no. This is the first and I did not read the book.
HollieSee, I told you, I saw it before.
SeanI did not read the book at all either, and only because you know, I don't know why. I it just maybe back then I just didn't have the time and I forgot about it, so I didn't I didn't read Be Cool, so I don't have anything to base it on whether it's I I'm going to guarantee that that fucking novel was way better than this film, but um, I went into it with an open mind. I'd heard that it wasn't a great movie, but it's not like it. I it basically it just existed, like the movie just existed.
HollieYeah, we don't always agree with what people say about movies.
SeanNo.
HolliePeople like with...
SeanBut I mean I've never heard anybody talk about this, and for good reason, because I would admit that I saw it either except for this.
HollieWhen I first watched it, I heard people talk about it and was like, Oh my god, that how could they have gone so shitty?
SeanWell, normally I'd give a brief synopsis, but I already did because it's the same as the fucking first movie we talked about. It's literally, uh I mean, everything is the same. I was getting so irritated because that's the exact same plot, but in the music business. And it's not, I mean, I you know, it's like they're like, Oh, well, what worked in Get Shorty? Okay, well, you know what? Let's just water it down and repeat it. I mean, there wasn't a wasted shot in Get Shorty, except for those cutaways, remember that I I mentioned. But in this one, the camera lingered way too long on some parts, like like on maybe even on Chili's face when they should have just got like just cut it. But I and I I didn't, I don't know. It was, you know, it's I don't know who to blame for this. I'm pretty much everybody.
HollieWell, there, like I said, I think it's a stupid movie, but there are some reasons why I think it's worth watching in a way...
SeanNo.
Hollie...because I liked Uma Thurman and John Travolta. I also liked the singer, Andre.
SeanWell, I'm good, yeah. I so there are two saving grace in this movie, Andre 3000.
HollieYes, he was...
SeanHe was funny.
HollieVery odd but he was good in it.
SeanHe got a little caricatureish, cartoonish at times.
HollieI think that whole that whole scene with the rap thing, they were it was just if I was...
SeanBut Cedric the Entertainer, he was good. I mean, he was good too, but the...
HollieI think was over the top. It was too...
SeanChristina Millian, I believe is how you pronounce her name, as singer Linda Moon.
HollieOh, it was all videos.
SeanIf you made a story...
HollieHalf the movie was a video.
SeanRight I and that's yes, and it was it was almost I think almost the same length as Get Shorty, but it felt long.
HollieLong, because all they do, they did the whole song she sang, and it was just a video, and that kind of shit does not happen.
SeanBut I mean, her character could have been in like her situation, was it was interesting, right?
HollieYeah, I did like that.
SeanBut and her character could have been more interesting. I just and then it's a Chili Palmer movie, obviously, but man...
HollieAnd how she just trusted Chili immediately. She just...whoosh... right in with him. Never mind him because Chili, like, I mean, I know he gives the vibe off that he's gonna take care of you, and that's what his that's why he's such an awesome character. I see he he's strong and and sensitive and a man, and he'll take care of you in a in a an appropriate way, like and he really liked her singing, and I got that, and I was okay with that, but then I thought, all the other characters were just so stereotypically like stupid...
SeanThey all were.
Hollie...like in caricatures like the the rap stars being gangsters like...
SeanRight.
HollieIf i was a rap person or in that that to me is offensive like not all rappers are gangsters.
SeanRight I agree I agree and i mean don't forget this is 2005...
HollieI know.
SeanI mean the caricature that bothered me the most was The Rock playing the gay guy yeah so many this was a mean spirited film too.
HollieYes. It was very mean i it was to me it was racist...
SeanAbsolutely racist yes.
Hollie...homophobic...and i don't know if it's because we're looking at it with a 2026 lens but it was racist and sexist and homophobic and...
SeanI don't think so I think we would have thought that back then too and it was directed by an African American F. Gary Gray who did you know um Friday he did what he did The Negotiator, The Italian Job...
HollieSo he's a decent director.
SeanWhich I don't, yeah I don't I I just don't understand I I think honestly and again I mean I can't lay the total blame on him I I think it was more...
HollieStudio.
Sean...uh it was more of a money grab...
HollieYeah I think it was too.
Sean...for any oh hey we could build it off that I mean it took 10 years right from the from the original and like that's not helping either because Travolta did not seem comfortable as Chili Palmer in this one at all did not he seemed very lackluster it was not with the same energy and I hey man you you can probably not you but like you can argue oh well he's he's tired of the movie he's going in man I could buy that but Chili would still be Chili. By the way you mentioned him dancing with Uma Thurman. Chili does not fucking dance.
HollieNo.
SeanChili Palmer does not dance.
HolliePalmer would not have danced.
SeanThat bothered me too like oh yeah oh it was almost like they took shit from the 90s...
HollieAnd where's Rene Russo?
SeanWell yeah he got tired of the movie business got tired of Karen Flores too.
HollieThe the way they made it seem the timeline between Get Shorty and Be Cool was a short time in between.
SeanI I agree right.
HollieThe movie made you think like it was you know next year or something...
SeanRight.
Hollie...so what she was his production partner like where was she? Why wasn't she pissed that he didn't want to do movies anymore? Why wasn't there some kind of even a reference towards her because he really respected her and like her in movies and she was a big influence and that that bothered me. The girl the singer Linda Moon meets Chili Palmer Chili Palmer knows Uma Thurman's character...
SeanJames Woods who gets murdered at the beginning that's his wife.
HollieThat was a waste and and and she uh she was on a tour bus with Aerosmith and they remember her which was stupid and ridiculous first of all never...
SeanLook at the movie it's so it's like anybody you might as well just throw that shit in.
Hollie...and the next night Linda Moon is on stage with Aerosmith?
SeanOf course, why wouldn't she be?
HollieCome on, that was just I mean you could have done something else to make her become famous it didn't have to be that.
SeanIt could have been like a I mean I know I don't know if viral really existed back in well so if it was released in 05 it had to be like 03, 04 is when it was being shot probably 04 but that was the beginning of kind of like the so maybe I don't know.
HollieShe could have made one video and they put a video on MTV that happened quick back then.
SeanRight exactly yeah that's that was still a thing back then.
HollieAnd it was just and the video I thought was dumb. Do you know who else I really hated in this movie?
SeanVince Vaughn?
HollieYes.
SeanOh I fucking hated Vince Vaughn in this I've never hated Vince Vaughn in anything...
HollieYes never.
Sean...but it was again it was the it was a shitty writing...
HollieToo caricatury.
SeanOh absolutely.
HollieHis accent was annoying he he was playing it he was not himself Vince Vaughn would not have done that role that way.
SeanNo no well I mean he did.
HollieLike if it was up to him. I felt like it was the whole movie it must be from the director too from the other movies you said he did. Everybody was told to do this a certain way and they didn't want to do it that way.
SeanRight. I I get the feeling Travolta did not want to be there. So I don't know if he was contractually obligated to do a sequel. I wouldn't think so because how do you know fucking Get Shorty when he signed up was going to be you know but maybe it was because Elmore but Elmore Leonard hadn't written a sequel yet when Get Shorty came out so I I don't unless he was under contract to the studio and...I don't know.
HollieThere had to be some reason because I mean maybe it was him and Uma there was a reason for them to be back together again in something.
SeanWell yeah because they used all the 90s stuff they brought her back they brought Harvey Kaitel from Pulp Fiction back. You know it was just hey let's let's all get together and relive the 90s...
HollieIt's a movie where Harvey Keitel sucked in it. Harvey Keitel does not suck in a movie.
SeanRight I I agree I I completely agree.
HollieLike I said my favorite character the only character I enjoyed watching was the Andre 3000 he was cute in it I thought he was he played the silly doofusy rap gangster guy in a funny way and it was a cute it was cute.
SeanI think it helped because F Gary Grey did direct a lot of Outkast videos so they probably had a good relationship work relationship as it was.
HollieI did like I liked him in it. And I thought Cedric the Entertainer was good...
SeanI thought he was yeah I thought he was too I he like he was a highlight of the movie as well.
Hollie...with his daughter and and he how he was a businessman and highly respected.
SeanGive me a movie based on that and him and Andre 3000 and the girl Linda Moon and you got you got a movie there. I don't it's not it wasn't a Chili Palmer movie anyway because it it's it wasn't him to me that was not the same character that was in the first one.
HollieChili Palmer loved movies that's the basis of Get Shorty and his character.
SeanYou know and so here a couple other things that that really bothered me. So one was I was reading an old review by Roger Ebert you know back in 2005 and Ebert said that he liked that line when they when Chili Palmer's talking about how he speaks he goes he says nothing more than I have to if that. Do you know how many times they repeated that line in this film? It was like five or six and that's probably why they used it oh it tickled Roger Ebert's nads so we'll have to use it again he'll give us a great review and the look at me does not come across as menacing as it did in the first...
HollieNo.
Sean...and it was that that underlying menace in the Get Shorty.
HollieBut again the same in Get Shorty like when when Zimmer the producer didn't listen to Chili and do what Chili said Uma Thurman's character doesn't listen to Chili and do what Chili said.
SeanAgain repeating...
HollieSo it's the same storyline.
Sean...the exact same thing and and Vince Vaughn pulls the thing where he tries to double cross him...
HollieYeah.
Sean...whereas Harry Zimm did the in a it was literally the exact I mean the whole fucking movie was Get Shorty in the music business and it sucked. And it even knocks that he takes out The Rock's character like he did Gandolfini you're like breathe breathe for me I'm like dude it's like literally a shot by shot remake.
HollieAnd I'm sorry I agree that you can sneak up on someone hit them in the throat and knock them down but John Travolta is not gonna overtake The Rock.
SeanWell The Gay Rock well I don't think he knew he was gay or something wasn't it the fact I don't well and that yeah that wasn't even I mean it wasn't fun... it wasn't funny at all I like The Rock!
HollieI like The Rock, yeah.
SeanYou know and for what the it called for I think he did a great job but it it just it's a shitty character.
HollieRight. Yeah it wasn't it like I said it was homophobic.
SeanNone of the characters seem real like in the first one remember I we mentioned all the characters seem very real I didn't see the actors I saw the characters; the exact opposite in this one. Oh there's Travolta there's Vince Vaughn. It was awful and you know how many times they tossed around the word fucking Shylock in this movie?
HollieThat's why I...
SeanA lot!
Hollie...I remembered the word Shylock.
SeanLike Jesus Christ I mean okay then the first movie they mentioned it what twice like Jesus Christ Harry he's the Shylock I think it was twice. This one it was like they beat you over the head with it and it's it's it's kind of a derogatory term in a way but it you know and probably why they used it probably why the studio loved using it because they already had the gay character and the black rappers so you might as well throw the derogatory Jewish...
HollieRight.
Sean...people you know.
HollieThey're bashing every nationality and everything they could.
SeanYou know I thought about this during the film because there was there was one time when I looked and said how much time do we have left in this film and it was 49 minutes I'm like Jesus Christ! So in college okay when I worked for we you know for the campus TV station somebody had an idea of making sweatshirts. And I'm like that's a great idea with our with the logo on it and everything. It was MUTV. I'm like that's awesome you know. Unfortunately the color they picked was mint green, okay.
HollieWhy?
SeanI I have no idea. So one of my friends, Siobhan, she bought it. She bought the sweatshirt and normally Siobhan was bubbly and you know effervescent and very outgoing and friendly but when she put on this sweatshirt it you know you know the feeling when you put on like a damp sweatshirt it's just like it just doesn't feel you know it's just not quite dry and it just kind of weighs you down your shoulders? It was dry and she would she look like that so anytime somebody like experienced like complete disappointment or was just it's something they didn't want to do, yeah, it was like oh you you're putting on an MUTV sweatshirt? My friend and I used to joke about that I felt like I put on that goddamn sweatshirt. This if you I would have seen this in the theater I would have walked out. I felt I thought about walking out of the living room. I was so angry that night and I was like I've been waiting a couple days to talk about this because it just got ridiculous after a while I'm like...
HollieBut it's angering how you take such amazing actors that I love and love everything they do and just ruin them.
SeanThey absolutely did.
HollieThey ruined Vince Vaughan he ruined well John Travolta didn't love he wasn't the worst part of it because he's you know he was still Chili Palmer but all the uh all the guest people all the extra you know famous actors just ruined it.
SeanYeah and Martin Weir making an appearance it's Martin Weir again and you know what here's the thing too and again this is more of like an aesthetic choice but it was it was shot very flatly like the the Get Shorty is so it burst with color and just energy every scene did that and this was just it looked like a fucking like 90s sitcom or 2000's sitcom.
HollieYeah.
SeanThat's all it looked like to me and that's basically the way it it felt with the writing I mean it's just...
HollieYeah.
Sean...like we mentioned writing before and I in in the last episode I talked about screenwriting, movies that focus on screenwriting. But William Goldman who wrote Princess Bride you know which we love we should do at some point he said the best way to create a scene is to come in late and come out early. Be Cool is an example of just lazy writing and whether again it was the actual screenwriter and or notes provided by some idiot executive which I have a feeling that's what it was.
HollieIt does have a very studio executive, some doofus feel about it because everyone involved are talented and and were cra not just talent but enjoyed their craft. Like they they look I always assumed that they looked at their making movies all these actors and that they looked at making a movie as an art form not just a job and a paycheck. I felt like this whole movie it was just a paycheck. And that's a that's a studio exec, you know, some idiot's nephew wanted to do this movie and produce it and say okay it's gonna be my way and it's the way we're doing it and everyone's like oh Jesus why are we doing this?
SeanI completely agree.
HollieThat's my feel.
SeanI don't I I wonder I I didn't read...
HollieSomeone who liked music over movies too.
SeanYeah well I mean that was that was the the premise of the book that he, Chili, went into the music business as well.
HollieBut then I disagree with the author then.
SeanBut well but then again I I know it can't be as bad. I'm gonna have to read the book but I it it can't be as bad because Elmore Leonard stuff really has not been that bad.
HollieWell Elmore should have thought that you can't make Chili Palmer know old history of movies because in the one scene in Get Shorty when he's in the theater, it was an old old movie and he's...
SeanTouch of... Touch of Evil.
Hollie...and he's reciting the lines and like you can't have someone that in love with film to know that kind of stuff to just not I mean I understand the movie industry kind of tainted him because of the you know you have to kiss ass and all that kind of stuff. I get that. But not after that short period of time. I think they should have I don't know maybe have him do a slew of movies in between time and talk about all these...
SeanThey never mentioned any movies that he did. Well a couple yeah except with...
HollieOne or two.
Sean...with Martin Weir's Get Leo.
HollieYeah.
SeanI think they didn't again I think it was like the sequel ish and they do kind of poke fun at it being a sequel but it just wasn't funny. It wasn't it was like I I heard you chuckle a few times I was actually angry...
HollieIt was literally at Andre 3000 or Cedric the Entertainer.
SeanYeah I mean I didn't even chuckle at that as much as I liked him in it I I I I mean this is one of the worst worst films I've ever seen. I rarely get angry watching a movie. I think the uh another one I could toss out there too is Revenge of the Sith. I saw that theater and I was angry watching it because it fucking blew and this this is worse. I mean this is...
HollieI think this is worse because of you how you wasted all that talent.
SeanRight and around I think around this time...
HollieWasted the opportunity of working with these amazing people.
SeanI agree, I agree.
HollieWho are funny. Vince Vaughn is I mean me and Vince disagree on some things right now but I still love Vince Vaughan.
SeanYes, I I completely agree with you. I mean in like Wedding Crashers. You have Swingers. You have The Internship.
HollieYou haven't seen him in the one movie that I love him in when he plays Lester the Mo Lester.
SeanIs that Clay Pigeons?
HollieYes.
SeanI have not seen that.
HollieI love it like I I watch Vince I watch a movie just for Vince Vaughn and I will continue to do that.
SeanHis big misstep was Psycho. That shot for shot remake and that would not I mean it was just a bad film.
HollieBut that's not Vince Vaughn.
SeanI agree yeah I mean it was trying him trying to explore different things.
HollieVince you're he's not Academy award winning Vince. He's Vince Vaughn. He should be but he's so talented in those types of roles and they just ruined it.
SeanHe was great in True Detective in in a dramatic role.
HollieRight yeah he can do that.
SeanI know people didn't like that season I I thought it was okay.
HollieYeah and Clay Pigeons is slightly dramatic. I mean but he's a serial killer but it's just you ruined it. You ruined Vince Vaughn for me. You ruined The Rock. I love The Rock in movies. I love...
SeanI do too.
HollieHe's very...
SeanRemember The Rundown with uh Sean William Scott? That movie's great! And like I you know we got to do that because I haven't seen that maybe The Rundown and Romancing the Stone would be a good double feature.
HollieThe Rock is just he's enjoyable he's he's he's just someone you'd like to see like he just seems like a genuine person and this destroyed that for me for him. It just took them all out of what they are good at on the screen, what they bring to the screen they took all these actors and just destroyed it and just took all that goodness away.
SeanI agree and you right now it's this one is what is it on IMDB? 5.6. How how it's 5.6 is beyond me.
HolliePeople...
SeanThat's not much lower than you know much uh the Get Shorty but there's a a huge difference on Rotten Tomatoes which Get Shorty was 89 percent, this one is 29 percent which I still think ...
HollieThat's more realistic.
Sean...is but it's way too high.
HollieWell the 29 percent is just to to watch the people that you see. And Uma Thurman looked gorgeous on screen.
SeanYeah yeah yeah that was around her Kill Bill time too I think probably a little bit right after the Kill Bill...
HollieThat's what I'm saying like she wasn't she wasn't as young as she was in other things...
SeanAnd she's she's fun.
Hollie...strikingly beautiful and she was fun to watch.
SeanRight I I I agree like I said it's I I just I hated this movie and I would never watch it again...
HollieThat's when you said "We're watching this" and...
SeanI'm sorry I made you watch it twice.
Holliewatching it re... I'm like oh Christ [inaudible] sequel.
SeanYou could have told me no.
HollieNo, because I didn't want to and you said I never saw it and I didn't want to ruin it for you by telling you it sucked.
SeanYou know you could have just said like I want you to watch it I want to see what you think about it.
HollieNo because if I would have said that you'd have been like "You didn't like it did you?"
SeanNo I would have been like okay I'm just kind of curious as to why I mean I already knew going in it wasn't that great of a film. So it's not like it would have been a complete surprise but I would have watched it by myself and like...
HollieBut we still watch some movies that get 29% and really enjoy them.
SeanYeah when there's...
HollieThat doesn't that's not necessarily...
SeanI completely agree because this movie deserves I zero percent I mean it's just it fucking it sucks. It sucks so bad, I'm so I was so angry. Just I mean just thinking about it when you tell me like oh Be Cool the movie? It's it sucks. It just yeah don't I I like I you know I don't even care where it's for free I think I I think I maybe watched it on Tubi if I'm not mistaken, but don't watch it. Don't.
HollieNo.
SeanAvert your eyes.
HollieNo.
SeanDo not watch this.
HollieMaybe watch clips of Andre Drake 3000 in it. You can watch the clip...
SeanYeah, I don't know.
Hollie...you're not missing much if you just watch a a two minute segment of him. The one scene where they're in the office with Cedric at the entertainer's office and his gun goes off and he goes why give me a gun and he throws that that was that was cute.
SeanYeah I mean again...
HollieThat made me laugh.
SeanBut by that time it was too late in the film for any redemption whatsoever for me even to chuckle because I was so angry, I was boiling over at that point with with just how how bad it was. Like I said that when I when I turned that on it was like I wish there was a camera on my face when I was like how much time was left when I saw that 49 it was just... you remember those cartoons where you see like little volcanoes in people's eyes? And like the steam blowing up? That's that's exactly what I was getting, I'm like Jesus. How much you know oh let's go in with more Get Shorty shit and retreads. So yeah again watch Get Shorty.
HollieYes definitely watch Get Shorty...
SeanAnd and just just just for just forget this exists.
HollieYep take it... don't don't bring it up again. If I was John Travolta and Uma Thurman, I would take it off my resume as you know all the...
SeanLike they need to you know like I mean I see here that you were... uh oh you were in Be Cool. I don't know...
HollieWell that's like Michelle Pfeiffer in Grease 2.
SeanAh Grease 2's awesome and we're gonna do we're... you know what? I want to do Grease and Grease 2. We, we're gonna do that.
HollieSome people would say you know she needs to take that off a resume so...
SeanOh a lot of people... I've read that yeah...
HollieIt's one of those movies...
Sean...and she doesn't even talk about it. I don't know why I'd embrace that shit. I love Grease 2.
HollieGrease 2 was a good bad movie.
SeanIt was!
HollieThis was a bad bad movie.
SeanOh this is absolutely horrible yeah this is, again, no redeeming qualities.
HollieMaybe there was too many talented people.
SeanNope, it just sucked. It just... I don't care. That wraps up another episode so make sure you hit that subscribe button and download new episodes every Saturday on your favorite podcast platform. For Scenes from the Screen, I'm Sean, and thanks for listening
