Get Shorty (1995)

As Good As It Gets

Absolutely brilliant

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Crime, comedy and action are brilliantly blended together in this fine thriller that has a lot of fun, mainly at the expense of Hollywood's movie makers. Its complicated plot illustrates how easily a mobster adjusts to the world of movies where, for obvious reasons, he instinctively anticipates the kinds of problems that an aspiring producer might encounter. His story is littered with numerous subplots that are richly entertaining and a variety of characters whose eccentricities are a great source of dark humour. What really illuminates the whole undertaking though, is its punchy dialogue that's witty, sharp and full of wisecracks.Miami loan shark, Chili Palmer (John Travolta) is instructed by Mafia boss Ray "Bones" Barboni (Dennis Farina) to track down a local dry cleaner who tried to avoid repaying a hefty loan by faking his own death. After speaking to the dry cleaner's wife, Chili establishes that Leo Devoe (David Paymer) is actually still alive and has gone to Las Vegas. In Vegas, a casino boss confirms that Leo had been there but had since moved on to Los Angeles. Knowing that Chili's next stop would be L.A., the casino boss then hires him to recover $150,000 that he's owed by a Hollywood movie producer who ran out on his debt after a recent gambling session.Chili breaks into the house where B-movie producer Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman) is in bed with his girlfriend Karen Flores (Rene Russo) and watches TV until Zimm comes downstairs to investigate. During their conversation, Zimm agrees to repay his gambling debt within a reasonable time and Chili, who's a film buff, pitches a story for a movie that's based on Leo Devoe's exploits. Zimm doesn't believe the story would have enough commercial appeal but has another script called "Mr Lovejoy" which is so good that if made and released, could elevate him to the A-list of producers. Chili is desperate to be a part of the project and so offers to help Zimm by relieving the pressure he's under from his creditors and helping with his efforts to get top film star Martin Weir (Danny DeVito) on board. Karen is an actress who's featured in a number of Zimm's monster movies but more importantly, as Weir's ex-wife, she comes in useful for helping to get him involved.Things seem to be going well when Weir makes it clear that he's favourably impressed by the script because his involvement would make it relatively easy to attract the $500,000 investment that would be needed to make the movie. Problems arise, however, when Ray Barboni comes to L.A. to recover the money he's owed by Devoe and volatile drug dealer Bo Catlett (Delroy Lindo) also arrives to collect the $200,000 he invested with Zimm to make a movie which never went into production because Zimm gambled the cash away in Las Vegas.The star-studded cast of "Get Shorty" bring huge energy, flair and colour to the wonderful characters that they play and deliver their fast-talking dialogue with great panache. Danny DeVito (as the title's Shorty), Dennis Farina, Gene Hackman and Delroy Lindo all stand out in their roles but John Travolta ultimately carries the movie because his special combination of toughness, coolness and charm makes Chili Palmer both believable and immensely likable. Director Barry Sonnenfeld also deserves great credit for bringing such clarity and pace to a plot which is both complex and character-heavy.

Through the course of the movie, parallels are drawn that depict the Hollywood work ethic as being similar to the type of mob work Chili is involved with. These amusing comparisons play themselves throughout the film, with classically stereotyped roles by an outstanding cast that range from the slimy director/producer to the Colombian drug-lord. In fact, it is the characters and the dialogue between these characters that make the movie outstanding. There is Chili Palmer (John Travolta), arguably one of the last true gangsters in the old tradition, whose speech and actions are undeniably cool and cutting. As a contrast to Chili, there is his boss, Ray Bones (Dennis Farina), who is a curt, abrasive character that is always looking for a way to one-up whoever he is dealing with. He is the type of person that wields more power than he actually possesses, creating several memorable scenes between his laughable character and Chili's perpetual coolness. Then there is the slimy director, Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman), a second rate director of B horror movies, whose interactions with Chili show us a less professional view of Hollywood. There is also the pompous, egocentric actor Martin Weir (Danny De Vito), who makes us laugh at the lifestyle of the Hollywood star. All of the characters in Get Shorty show us an amusing side of Hollywood that is simultaneously paying homage to and poking fun at movies.There are two problems with this movie. While I did find the storyline entertaining, I did find it extremely confusing to keep up with the specific "details" of the story - namely who is who and who did what. Perhaps this traces back to the original Elmore Leonard novel for which this book is based on. I usually prefer my films at a "simpler" level - and I think that would have helped this story. The other problem is that I found the ending to be weak. While I think this movie does a very good job at not "dragging out" the ending, I ultimately found the ending a bit anti-climatic. It was an ultimate let-down to a movie that despite the confusing "details" of the plot, does provide an entertaining edge. All in all, this is a very well made movie. The actors are wonderful, the homage paid to prior films of it's ilk are subtle, yet, crafted skillfully, and the cinematography and music perfectly compliment the film flow and style.Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

One of the great mysteries of all time, right up there with Area 51 and the Da Vinci Code, is why the film industry, now into its second century and -- as you read this -- consuming on a relative basis more bandwidth than any other form of media, cannot produce consistently decent product? Now don't misunderstand. This is not to say that most movies are inherently bad, for that is not true either. However one of the dirty little secrets of the industry is that the "breakout" ratio is around 20:1. That is, for every 19 forgettable products that are churned out -- products that keep the cable and streaming media pipelines full, and keep food on the table for all the electricians, caterers, and Best Boys -- about one actually is memorable enough to attract a permanent audience or become near-iconic. Not a very efficient ratio! The late Marshall McLuhan tried in his lifetime to develop the notion of "media ecology," essentially the premise that the cultural output of a society was no less important than any other industry output, and therefore an effort should be made NOT TO WASTE THE RESOURCES or (simply put) produce junk. Like the infamous joke about about the "Nietzsche graffiti" (first line: "God is dead - Nietzsche." Second line: "Nietzsche is dead. God") that attempt did not turn out so well. McLuhan is gone, and the ratio has arguably gotten worse, because there are now many more pipelines to fill. Which brings us, belatedly, to GET SHORTY, not only a great film (one of Travolta's best performances, so effortless you wonder if he phoned it in, and Pixar just added a body) but one of Hollywood's most "inside" scripts ever. (Comedians have "inside jokes." Hollywood has "inside scripts.") The premise here is that the making of a movie has little to do with the movie, and everything to do with egos and business capabilities of the people making it. The idea that a professional mobster could stumble into Hollywood and suddenly realize that making a film is no different than planning a hit, or a robbery, is sheer brilliance. And very close to home. In the history of the medium, it is one of the only movies to deal with the delicate (and unpopular) issue of ... why so many bad films have to be made, simply to produce one good one...?

Now what does one make of this rather strange movie. What is the plot and if there is a plot, what is it? Get Shorty is not a mindless action flick, that is not what I am referring to when I am asking about a plot. Most action flicks generally have a plot, even though they are probably extremely shallow. Get Shorty, on the other hand, has a rather strange plot with some even stranger events.Chilli (John Travolta) is a loan shark who has been upset by another mafia boss in Miami named Ray Babone (Hal Linden). Chilli breaks Babone's nose and then shoots him just to let him know that he is not in the mood to be pushed around. Unfortunately Chilli's boss, Momo, dies in Brooklyn when he walks into a surprise party and has a heart attack. Babone then convinces him to go to Los Angeles to chase a laundry operator who owes him $300,000 after he allegedly died in a airplane crash. When Chilli gets to Los Angeles he is also asked by somebody in Las Vegas to get some money from a movie producer (Gene Hackman). When he breaks into the producer's house, he is struck with the movie making bug and decides that the current events would make a good movie. Thus he begins to try to drum up interest, mostly from a famous actor named Martin Wier (Danny DeVito) and gets involved with Wier's ex-wife who is an actress (Rene Ruso). Meanwhile another loan shark is after the producer for money that was lost at a casino.Pretty twisting little plot I thought and there were some quite funny scenes in the movie. It is the twisting plot that makes this movie shine. The major thing with the movie is a satirical look at Hollywood and the loansharking business. All of the films mentioned have really corny names suggesting the meaninglessness of the movies that are made. It is also shown as a bug that influences everybody that comes into the scene. Chilli and the LA loanshark are both caught by the producing bug and want to get into the film industry. Martin Wier is a typical actor and his personality is also satirised. He is shown Chilli's rent-a-car and decides that he likes it so much that he buys one himself. When they are having lunch, he orders everything for everybody and eats none of it suggesting that the actor always wants to be in control of the movie, even though it is the producer and the director that run the show. Then there is the ending where Ray Babone goes to the locker at LA airport and is caught by the DEA agents. This is twisted around in the film being made replacing the agents with Chilli, somebody much shorter, and a bad imitation of Babone. This goes to show the delusion that Hollywood creates. In a true story, the people become vague caricatures of the people that they are based upon, and are twisted to allow the famous actors to take the spot. Martin Wier is nothing like Chilli yet Chilli knows that to capture an audience, one must turn to a famous face.Then there is the film studio ending, the removal of the veil that shrouds Hollywood. It is revealed that all it is is a movie and any bad ending is meaningless because the antagonist is only an actor who walks away afterwards. No matter how evil this bad guy is and no matter how much he is hated, what happens in the movie is only an illusion. The bad guy is only an actor and his apparent death is just some ploy shot in front of the camera. In the end, they will all pack up and go home.Thus Get Shorty is a very intelligent and satirical movie. The bad guys are not threatening, but rather a caricature of the typical Hollywood villain. The movie is focused entirely on Chilli who is fearless and able to bend even the most intimidating person to his will. The most outstanding part of this movie is Gene Hackman's role. When I do not recognise the actor then that actor is doing a very good job. This was the case with Ed Harris in The Truman Show, and it is the case in this movie. Hackman has a famous face, yet it was a face that I did not recognise in this film.