Be Cool CD

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Summary: The return of Chili Palmer...
Review: Be Cool is Elmore Leonard's sequel to Get Shorty, and is, as are all of Leonard's books, entertaining and easy to read.

Chili Palmer has made one blockbuster and one bomb. He's looking for a new movie idea when a former mob friend-turned music executive gets shot as the two are eating lunch in Hollywood. The ensuing action takes Chili into the music industry and all the drama, ego, and jealousy that exists within, all in search of a new script. Palmer takes on the management of an up-and-coming singer, upsetting her former manager, who spends most of the book trying to figure out how to kill Chili. Along the way, Chili has to deal with gangsta rappers, russian mobsters, a mafia hit man, a gay samoan bodyguard, and a budding diva or two.

This book was not as good as Get Shorty, but is still a lot of fun to read. Leonard sticks to his formula here, shady good guys and nasty bad guys, all of whom are odd and entertaining characters. Leonard has a gift for writing interesting people and great dialogue, and this book is full of both.

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Summary: A Sequel that's as Good as the Original
Review: Chili Palmer is a former loan shark who has now relocated to Hollywood and is a player in the movie business, because he'd been successful with his first movie, "Get Leo," but the sequel tanked. He's trolling for new ideas with former crime associate, Tommy Athens, when Athens is murdered in cold blood - a mob hit, apparently. Chili has seen the killer and is very likely next on his list.

When he gets home he finds a man shot to death in his apartment, he realizes that both the dead man and the murderer were there to get him. The second hit man shot the first thinking he was Chili.

Much of the enjoyment in this story is the way Leonard uses events in Chili's life to give his hero material for his screenplay. The characters function both as themselves and actors in the film. Fiction within fiction.

And some of them are very funny: A black record producer who wants respect; a gigantic gay black bodyguard, who says he's Samoan; a bunch of Russian Mafia types and a streetwise collection of gangsta rappers known as Ropa Dope. From this rough material, Chilli must put together the movie that will save his career.

It's been said before and I'll say it again. Elmore Leonard is a genius. He can do no wrong. Like GET SHORTY, BE COOL is a keeper, a book you'll want to read again and again.

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Summary: Slick yet Not Satisfying
Review: Elmore Leonard is the master of dialogue. I'll just say that right now. "Be Cool" has outstanding dialogue--as good as Leonard has written. It is crisp and tight, and he is one of the few writers who can pull off telling a story and developing characters strictly through their speech. And yet, "Be Cool" did not satisfy like it should. I felt the story lacked simply because it was transparent and did not seem original. Chili Palmer is one one Leonard's most popular and memorable characters and as much as many of us wanted to read more about him after reading "Get Shorty," Mr. Leonard should have let us suffer. I cannot stand to give it lower than a three-star rating simply because it was still a book that I had to keep reading. The plot moves along and I had to know what would happen to his always flawed, but endearing characters. And yet, like cheap Chinese take-out, I felt my gut empty hours after consuming this serving. I recommend going back and re-reading "Get Shorty" if you really need your Chili Palmer fix--you'll be happier.

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Summary: Not as good as previous Leonard novels...
Review: Elmore Leonard, my favorite beach novelist, has put out another Chili Palmer novel (of "Get Shorty" fame). Not as either believable or as rip-roaringly funny as Get Shorty was.... Be Cool follows Chili into the music industry in California. The sequel to his famous movie (called, "Get Leo" in this book, although why, I don't know... we all know it's Get Shorty) was a bust, so he is onto searching for another story-line for another movie. As Elmore Leonard novels go, I thought this one was fairly weak... Leonard seemed out of his familiar surroundings and I miss, frankly, the bare-faced shysters, the loan sharks, the semi-mafiosos and the slick con-men of most of his other books. This novel didn't have the same wonderful surprising twists and turns... Chili's relationship with Elaine seemed forced, Linda Moon started out with some promise but Leonard is so busy trying to develop other characters (like the bizarre, huge Samoan homosexual body-guard) that we never feel we've completely 'gotten into' any of the characters. I will give Leonard a lot of credit however, for continuing to be the best at plot manipulation... how he has Chili manage the police, the Russian mafia, the record industry mafia, and just about everyone else so that he emerges with the usual clean nose, is a tribute to Leonard's abilities to think and write so complexly.

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Summary: Chili Palmer is back
Review: I've read a lot of Leonard's previous novels and this is the first sequel I am aware of. At first, I had a sense that Be Cool was written just so there could be a second movie starring Travolta, but as I read, the familiar dialogue and character development which is typically Elmore Leonard emerged. I have always learned a lot from Leonard's books, and this time is no exception - the music industry is there, warts and all. I wouldn't want Leonard to do it very often, but for once it was fun to read about a character I already knew pretty well, both from the earlier book and the movie. I couldn't help trying to cast the movie as I read, which made it even more fun. How about Don Cheadle as Raji? (I think Samuel Jackson is a little too old.) How about Ving Rhames as Elliot? He's such a good actor, he could play a Samoan. You gotta get Steve Zahn in there. (I guess you can tell that Out of Sight is one of my all-time favorite movies!) Anyway, some of the reviews above seem a little tough to me - maybe someone is taking himself or herself a little too seriously. If you want to read a clever, funny book in the Leonard tradition, grab a couple of beers and Be Cool.

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Summary: Elmore Leonard & Chili Palmer, Right On The Money
Review: If you've seen the movie "Get Shorty" you can't help but read Leonard's latest and picture what a cool movie it's going to be some day. It's as if Leonard was thinking about John Travolta as he was writing (which isn't a bad thing). As usual the dialogue is sharp and the plot twists are satisfying. And Leonard wisely utilizes a tongue-in-cheek approach to sequels, which sets it apart from "Get Shorty". Well hopefully Travolta is game for reprising Chili Palmer and I hope they can get Barry Sonnenfeld to direct. Casting suggestion: how about Angelina Jolie as Linda Moon?