Get Shorty

The trailers for the soon-to-be-released Be Cool looked so good, Jaime and I figured we should see the first installment, before we get a chance to see the sequel. I was a little worried about seeing it because Travolta has more or less been in real stinkers since his amazing resurfacing in Pulp Fiction.

Get Shorty was actually pretty good. Travolta stars as a gangster with a penchant for movie producing. He get's hooked up with a b-movie director (Gene Hackman) who he was sent to collect a debt from. Rival collectors and mob bosses from back home move the wackyness along. The excellent cast also includes Rene Russo as a horror movie actress, Danny Devito as a Hollywood A-List actor, Dennis Farina as Travolta's new mob boss (whom he doesn't care for, and has shot in the head, Delroy Lindo as a Hollywood gangster who wants to write scripts and James Gandolfini as his hired muscle/ex stunt-man.

The previews for Be Cool are funnier than the entire Get Shorty. Get Shorty also ended kind of ended abruptly...with kind of a "thats it?" feeling. But, it was still a decent flick, and probably Travolta's best work since Pulp Fiction.

THUMBS UP