Directed by: Barry Sonnenfeld
Starring: John Travolta, Gene Hackman, Danny DeVito, Rene Russo, Delroy Lindo, James Gandolfini, David Paymer, Dennis Farina
Chili Palmer (Travolta) is a Miami loan shark who stumbles into the world of Hollywood moviemaking and finds he's a good fit. He already has the skill set. The question is whether Hollywood is ready for him. Get Shorty is a light comedy that understands Hollywood well enough to create a plausible satire. We figure such things happen every day in Hollywood. Get Shorty allows us to be a witness.
Get Shorty begins with Palmer in Miami under the employment of a new boss named Ricky Bones (Farina), who does not want any entries in Chili's book showing an uncollected debt. The $300,000 debt belongs to a supposedly deceased dry cleaner named Leo (Paymer), who Chili discovers is very much alive after collecting life insurance money on himself. Leo was supposed to be a plane that he exits at the last minute which then crashes later. Since his name was on the passenger list, he fraudulently collects the insurance and goes to Las Vegas.
While Palmer is in Vegas to track Leo, a casino head asks him to track down Hollywood movie producer Harry Zimm (Hackman), who has yet to repay at $200,000 gambling debt to the casino. Chili jumps at the chance, mostly because he is a fan of Zimm's C-grade horror films that likely would have been made by Ed Wood back in the day.
Palmer breaks into Zimm's home in the middle of the night, not to shake him down, but to propose a story to be made into a movie. It is one not a million miles removed from Chili's own life, and Zimm likes it. Zimm's girlfriend is actress Karen Flores (Russo), who was used often in Zimm's film as a scream queen. Her most famous credit is Bride of the Mutant, or something like that. It turns out she is the former girlfriend of megastar Martin Weir (DeVito), who Chili thinks would be perfect for his movie. One of the movie's best scenes involves Chili giving Martin lessons on looking menacing. "Give a look that says, "You're mine,' but you don't feel any sort of way about it," Chili instructs and Martin delivers.
I have given you the set up, but there are other players who want to muscle in on Chili's and Harry's movie or simply get the money they feel is owed them. Travolta projects utter cool and directness in the face of liars, cheats, and weasels he encounters. He says what he means and means what he says, but doesn't lose his cool. Chili is an apt name for him. I liked DeVito expounding his usual undeniable energy as Weir, who seemingly needs motivation before ever uttering a line of dialogue.
There is also interesting byplay between Chili and Bear (Gandolfini), who is hired muscle for local criminal Bo Catlett (Lindo) and a former stuntman.
Get Shorty has A-list actors clearly having fun with the increasingly preposterous story and dialogue. There are numerous characters in the mix, but it is easy to follow and doesn't try to outsmart itself. It is a satirical look at Hollywood and the crime world, which we soon discover have very much in common.
Palmer breaks into Zimm's home in the middle of the night, not to shake him down, but to propose a story to be made into a movie. It is one not a million miles removed from Chili's own life, and Zimm likes it. Zimm's girlfriend is actress Karen Flores (Russo), who was used often in Zimm's film as a scream queen. Her most famous credit is Bride of the Mutant, or something like that. It turns out she is the former girlfriend of megastar Martin Weir (DeVito), who Chili thinks would be perfect for his movie. One of the movie's best scenes involves Chili giving Martin lessons on looking menacing. "Give a look that says, "You're mine,' but you don't feel any sort of way about it," Chili instructs and Martin delivers.
I have given you the set up, but there are other players who want to muscle in on Chili's and Harry's movie or simply get the money they feel is owed them. Travolta projects utter cool and directness in the face of liars, cheats, and weasels he encounters. He says what he means and means what he says, but doesn't lose his cool. Chili is an apt name for him. I liked DeVito expounding his usual undeniable energy as Weir, who seemingly needs motivation before ever uttering a line of dialogue.
There is also interesting byplay between Chili and Bear (Gandolfini), who is hired muscle for local criminal Bo Catlett (Lindo) and a former stuntman.
Get Shorty has A-list actors clearly having fun with the increasingly preposterous story and dialogue. There are numerous characters in the mix, but it is easy to follow and doesn't try to outsmart itself. It is a satirical look at Hollywood and the crime world, which we soon discover have very much in common.
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