First off let me say I hate movies that are self-referential. The only movie that did it well was Robert Altman’s “The Player”. Ever since then all the movies that try to be snarky and “hey aren’t we cool how we refer to ourselves in this movie about movies?” are just boring.
“Be Cool” is the perfect example. At some point John Travolta’s character says to another character, “You know the difference between a PG-13 movies and an R rating? You can only say the F word one time.” He then proceeds to say the word, and that’s the only time you hear it in the movie.
In another scene, James Woods’ character is pitching a movie about himself and says, “Who do you think we should cast to play me?” Now, the obvious answer is “Jimmy Woods”, but I was happy that John Travolta mentioned a different actor. However, in the outtakes he DID say Jimmy Woods. I’m glad the editor opted to go with the other answer because if the Jimmy Woods punchline had remained in the movie I would have turned it off right then and there, about 7 minutes in to the movie.
The movie has a good cast (Travolta, Uma Thurman, Vince Vaughn, Cedric the Entertainer, Harvey Keitel) but was just okay. Self-referential overdose aside, it just wasn’t good enough. It also didn’t help that the movie is considered a sequel to “Get Shorty” which was made what, a DECADE ago? Only “Lethal Weapon” can get away with that. And “Terminator”. And “Star Wars”. Okay, and probably another few movies. But not this one.
And I’m still skeeved by Uma Thurman’s unnaturally large thumbs.
1 1/2 celebrity cameos out of five.