samedi, avril 02, 2005 The third movie of the week (as well as the second sequel movie I've seen) was... I don't know. It was blah. Everything was there - the plot twists, the coolness of John Travolta, the hotness of Uma Thurman, the psycho-ness of Harvey Keitel, the stupidity that is Vince Vaughn (why would you act in a show called Dodgeball? Shouldn't the name have tipped you off?), the weirdness of everyone else, plus Steve Tyler and Aerosmith in concert, Danny DeVito, The (gay gay gay!) Rock and the Black-Eyed Peas, and (almost like a bonus), weird Russians and a cameo by Seth Green - what more could you ask for?And yet... je ne sais pas - something's missing, the spark. This could have been Ocean's 12 - my gripe with that movie was that it wasn't like the original enough - this time, my gripe is that it's too much like the original - it was almost formulaic. The smoothness was fine, but last time it was Chilli Palmer trying to break into the movie business, now it's the music business. Similarities much? (Highlight to see spoiler-filled gripes below.) 1) There was a bit with Chilli's car in Get Shorty - SUVs versus hot cars. Now, it's small, environmentally-friendly cars versus hot Ferrarris. 2) René Russo, ex-wife of the celebrity in question - check. Now it's Uma Thurman, widow of the owner of the record company - check. 3) Scene on balcony - check. 4) TV used to distract Chilli from assassins - check, check, and then check again. Talk about ripping yourself off. 5) Scene in a bed where Chilli is sleeping, then is woken up by the girl (René, Uma, who cares?) because the TV is on - check. 6) A storage receptacle is used to pass important documents around - airport locker for Get Shorty, a pawnshop for Be Cool. Check. 7) Chilli is successful, and makes it look smooth and easy. Check. 8) Chilli tells the boss, who is being visited by mobsters, not to say something, but he/she says it anyway. Check. 9) Hostage situation with the chick which Chilli has to negotiate out of, which winds up looking like he knew and planned the whole thing - check. 10) Chilli making a movie deal with the bodyguard of the bad guy - check. You think people lack originality - this film proves it. I guess there's just no such thing as a winning formula for movies. Not flicks based on Elmore Leonard books, anyway. Why, oh why, did this movie suck? [Be Cool? Not so.] |
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