MGM/UA ENTERTAINMENT

March 11, 2005

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 9

What the Rock is cookin'

Pro wrestler's performance is the coolest thing in a lukewarm sequel

by Kaizaad Kotwal

If it's not all about Paris Hilton's catch phrase "That's hot!" then it's gotta be about being cool. Cool is that intangible yet ubiquitous state of being that Hollywood tries so hard to embody and market out the wazoo.

So it's no surprise then that some of the biggest players in Tinseltown have come together for Be Cool, a pseudo-sequel to the 1995 hit Get Shorty.

In Be Cool, John Travolta (the über cool one) is back as Chili Palmer, a streetwise mobster-turned-movie-producer.

However, this time around, Chili is tired of the film industry, especially its over-indulgence in sequels that stink. So what does he do? He moves over to the music industry and jumps from the frying pan into the fire vis-àvis chaos, corruption and general mayhem.

He gets tangled up with Russian mobsters and gangsta rappers for taking a talented, feisty young singer named Linda Moon under his wing.

Get Shorty was a huge success not only for John Travolta, but also for Elmore Leonard who wrote the novels on which both films are based. But Be Cool, like most sequels, isn't as good as the original. The film seems to be pushing to be funny and pushing even harder to be cool. Yet, it has some interesting and enticing moments.

Travolta reunites here with his Pulp Fiction co-star Uma Thurman and they spoof their own dancing scene from that film. It is fun to see them dancing with the Black Eyed Peas playing "Sexy" in the background.

For Get Shorty, Travolta won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy.

He is in no fear of repeating that success here. Travolta works hard to make something of the thin plot but ultimately can't save it entirely.

BUY SELL TRADI

Gay bodyguard Elliot Wilhelm (Dwayne "the Rock” Johnson) dreams of stardom in Be Cool, the sequel to 1995's Get Shorty.

Vince Vaughn palys Raji, a white guy with urban affectations who desperately wants to be respected on "da street." Vaughn is starting to stereotype himself and here he doesn't do anything the audiences haven't seen him do before.

The cast here is pretty cool, but it seems at some level that it's a parade of stars with not much to do.

Cedric the Entertainer plays Sin LaSalle, a Wharton-educated music producer who's not afraid to use muscle or metal to further his aims. André Benjamin (otherwise known as André 3000 of OutKast) is Dabu, a member of Sin's hit rap group posse, the DubMDs, with a whacked sense of humor and an itchy trigger finger. Harvey Keitel is the menacing head of a management company. Aerosmith's Steven Tyler plays himself with a wink and a nod to rock stardom. Danny DeVito is back as wacky director Martin Weir, this time with the even wackier Anna Nicole Smith on his arm.

But the film in some ways belongs to the Rock, erstwhile professional wrestler Dwayne Johnson. He plays Raji's bodyguard Elliot Wilhelm, a brawny tough guy who really wants to be an actor and is also gay.

The Rock makes the most of his crazy role and is the only truly hysterical one to watch in the film. Johnson has solidified his position among Hollywood's hottest leading men.

His co-starring role in The Mummy Returns first brought him to the attention of the entertainment industry, and his starring role

in The Scorpion King broke box office records with the biggest April opening of all time. It is stunning to live in an age when such a superstar will play gay and doesn't seem worried that it will negatively affect his career.

The press notes to the film say that Johnson admitted that he went after the part of Elliot, the gay bodyguard who truly wants to be in show business.

"I really wanted to play the character," he says in the notes. "Opportunities like this are rare, to get all of these extraordinary actors who I respect and admire together in one film. We had so much fun on the set."

The Rock, who is considered to be one of the more conservative performers in Hollywood, is probably making some on the right scratch their heads in disbelief or anger.

In talking about playing gay in the press kit, the Rock says, "I thought it was exciting. get to poke fun at myself and play with people's notion of who I am. Because I am who I am, it's like, "The Rock playing gay, really?' Why not? We're all created equal, and there are many kinds of people in this world."

Johnson has also been on the talk show circuit, telling The Daily Show's Jon Stewart that he liked the character because of his journey to self-acceptance.

Now if only some of the more whackedout, right wing lunatics in his party would start believing that, it would truly, truly be cool.

Curbside

SLICED © ROBERT KIRBY ALL I REMEMBERED WAS SOMEONE GOING "HEY!" AND TURNING AROUND AND FEELING THIS RIPPING PAIN. WHA?

AUGHH

I DRIFTED IN AND OUT OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE EMERGENCY ROOM. I KNEW VAGUELY THAT MY EYE HAD BEEN SLASHED BUT I WAS ALL PUMPED UP ON PAINKILLERS AND DIDN'T REALLY DWELL ON IT MUCH.

by Robert Kirby

I HALLUCINATED A LOT INSTEAD.

MRROW

HEY

ve

METRO

JOE'S

I HEARD DOCTOR'S VOICES SOME TIMES AND OTHER TIMES THE RE WAS CAL.

(CAN

YOU

YOU'RE GOIN TO BE ALRIG

CAN YOU TELL

ME WHAT

HAPPENED

MATHAN

**

HEAR

*

THEN I HEARD SOMEONE THREATENING ME WITH SOMETHING WORSE THAN I'D JUST GOTTEN.

IF YOU DON'T

STAY AWAY

FROM

UM

SURE

WHUH?

Ok

BUT I'M NOT

I WASN'T SURE WHAT WAS REAL AND WHAT WASN'T. I WAS ALL IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE.

MAYBE I OUGHTA GET OUTTA HERE...." OR MAYBE... JUST TAKE........ ANOTHER NAP...........

#307

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