Be Cool (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The film Get Shorty was a success on many fronts. It introduced a new style of hip gangster that revised the stereotype of the Godfather series. It also helped relaunch the career of John Travolta. And it brought Elmore Leonard's impressive body of fiction to larger public attention. In Hollywood, such a triumph usually spawns a sequel--a film that rehashes the great jokes and cool scenes of the first film, but with none of the panache that initially inspired audiences.

In the beginning of Be Cool, the sequel to the novel Get Shorty, readers are reminded that Chili Palmer--like his creator--scored a huge success with a gangster film (his was entitled Get Leo). But the sequel, Get Lost, was a predictable dud. Rather than follow that sordid story, however, Leonard takes Chili into a totally new direction. He places Chili on a murder investigation (in which he is a prime suspect) and then traces Chili's entry into the music business. Meanwhile, Leonard reveals a whole new cast of fresh, funny, and flaky characters to populate Chili's world, characters like Elliot the gigantic, gay, Samoan bodyguard who lives to be on the stage. Throughout, the voice of John Travolta rings in Chili's every speech (word has it that Travolta has already been cast to reprise the role) as Leonard pokes fun at the Hollywood apparatus and the task of a sequel writer.

Be Cool surpasses its original because it is so self-consciously a novel about sequels, about the sometimes cowardice that limits the creativity of the American film industry. It is hard to imagine how Leonard could top the multilayered satire/crime novel/exposé. One only hopes for a sequel. Fans of Be Cool might want to check out music from The Stone Coyotes, the band that served as Leonard's model in the book. --Patrick O'Kelley --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Despite the title and the cover shot of John Travolta and Uma Thurman, who star in the MGM film based on Leonard's follow-up to Get Shorty, this production is curiously lacking in "cool." A few bars of funky music kick off the story, which follows shylock–turned–movie producer Chili Palmer as he outmaneuvers mobsters, crooked music business execs and some menacing rappers to make a CD—and possibly another movie. Narrator Scott, who starred in the film Dying Young, attempts a low-key, laid-back performance, but the result sounds sedate rather than coolly casual. He gives Chili an inflectionless tone that's hardly reminiscent of the character's Italian roots, and all of his female voices sound virtually the same. Though Scott lends a few secondary characters more definition—a spot-on Brooklyn accent for Chili's friend, Tommy, and a self-consciously tough tone for a murderous music manager—this production largely succeeds in rendering Leonard's lively text listless. Based on the Delacorte hardcover (Forecasts, Nov. 16, 1998). (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Dell; 1st THUS edition (January 11, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440235057
• ISBN-13: 978-0440235057
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (88 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,528,200 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Apt material for a high school english class!, February 9, 2000

By	Jack McGuire (Philadelphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews

I was amused by a previous review stating that a high school student had read "Be Cool" as an English assignment. That's great if your teaching a novel with zero character development, zero story, hell, practically no plot. And I've enjoyed some of Leonard's other books. And the most embarassing part is Leonard's take on present day rock 'n roll. I can see him desperately picking the brains of people he thinks might be "hep" to the current scene. He breaks the first rule of writing; write what you know about. This book was a mess. Were the blurb folks paid off?

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars decline of Mr. Leonard, February 10, 2000

By	Peter Cas Jones (Signal Hill, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Be Cool (Hardcover)

I work in Hollywood as a runner, have for years. None of the characters in this book even vaguely resemble anybody I work with. Least of all Chili Palmer. Nor is Mr. Leonards dialog as spot-on as it used to be. Ryan's Rules was one of the greatest books I ever read. I've read it four or five times. Be Cool is at the opposite end of the spectrum. It gets worse. The dialog is so-so the characters are unbeleivable, and the action isn't real. In Ryans Rules the guys were robbing liquor stores and it was totally real, in Be Cool the one and only scene that doesn't cause a groan is the opening scene at Swingers restaurant where Tommy Athens is talking about the movie he wants Chili to make and Chili asks what's the movie about and Tommy Athens goes: "Me", now that's Holywood. On the other hand, when the 6 foot 6 Samoan barges into the studio exec womans office and bashes her TV with a baseball bat, anybody who's ever been anywhere near a studio lot will hoot with astonishment. This scene makes a deafening clunk. And then, after behaving like that, apparently we're supposed to beleive the big Samoan just strolls off the lot, because without a pass he wouldn't've been parking on the lot in the first place, where in real life the man would be getting treated like a king, as in Rodney. All I can say is give it up Mr. Leonard. You couldn't possibly need the money, could you? And if you don't you're embarrassing yourself.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Be Cool is lukewarm, December 1, 1999

By	Lee Greenway (Macon State College) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Be Cool (Hardcover)

As a fan of Elmore Leonard, and particularly of his popular novel, Get Shorty, I eagerly anticipated the release of this continuation of the tale of Chili Palmer. Dismayed was I to discover, therefore, that Be Cool was so true to the original that it could have, in fact, been the same book. Don't get me wrong, I like Chili Palmer as much as the next guy, but Mr. Leonard seemed to have missed the fact that for a sequel to be successful, it must take beloved characters and place them in NEW situations. This time, we find the same Chili doing the same things he did in Get Shorty, albeit with a little less violence, only this time he's doing it in the music world instead of the movie world. Throughout the novel, I found myself getting a more than vague sense of deja vu - I've seen it all before. The book is not, of course, without a few shining moments. A distressingly macabre exchange between a myopic Jewish hitman and a jive-talking, ghetto blasting music producer concerning the best type of baseball bat when a skull is the target provides a great moment of typical Leonard black humor. Leonard's signature stylistic devices - flashback narration and wonderful use of dialect - are omnipresent throughout. Be Cool does have its advantages, but it's possible to save money - just put on an Aerosmith album and re-read Get Shorty. Sorry, folks, but we've been here and done this.