I have really enjoyed this movie since it came out, not only the writing, directing and performances, but also the excellent soundtrack. This is really a fun comedy that keeps guessing as to just what will happen next, and with an excellent cast of characters that keep popping up throughout the length of the film. I finally got my girlfriend to watch this because we were planning on seeing the sequel Be Cool this weekend (though the reviews aren’t great), but we never ended up doing it.

Review Contains Spoilers:

Get Shorty is the story of Chili Palmer (John Travolta) a cooler than cool Miami gangster and loan-shark who gets in a fight with the man who later becomes his boss, Ray ‘Bones’ Barboni (played in excellent psycho style by Dennis Farina). Chili turns his work over to Ray, but is missing $15000 from a Dry Cleaner Leo Devoe (David Paymer) who died recently. Ray wants the money, so Chili must go talk to the dry cleaners wife Fay Devoe (Linda Hart), where he learns that Leo didn’t die on the airplane crash, but actually got off, and scammed the airline out of the $300,000, heading to Vegas, and getting in trouble there, so being sent to Los Angeles. Chili follows his trail to Vegas, and his buddy at the Casino asks him to help get back $150,000 from schlock horror movie producer Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman). Chili tracks Zimm to his ex-girlfriend’s house the horror scream queen Karen Flores (Rene Russo). Chili ends up telling Zimm his story for a movie, which is actually what is going on with him right now, and ends up getting involved with Zimm whose ex-writing partner has died, but has an amazing script called Mr. Lovejoy that his wife Doris Saphron (Better Midler) won’t sell for less than half a million. And Zimm owes $300,000 to a drug dealing limo company owner Bo Catlett (Delroy Lindoy) and his cronies an ex movie stunt man Bear (James Gandolfini) and Ronnie Wingate (Jon Gries). Bo needs the money back because he has $500,000 with some old cocaine in a locker at LAX that he owes drug dealer Mr. Escobar (Miguel Sandoval) who is pissed because his nephew Yayo Portillo (Jacob Vargas) never came back with his money (because Bo killed him). Chili and Karen Flores go to super star actor Martin Weir (Danny DeVito, or shorty) who is Flores’s ex husband to talk about Mr. Lovejoy, but instead get him into Chili’s movie idea for GET SHORTY. Zimm gets tricked by Bo into thinking that Chili is screwing him, and ends up calling Ray Bones who comes up from Miami and breaks both his hands and messes him all up as well as killing Ronnie. Chili has already located Leo and taken the money, and now because of Zimm, Ray Bones knows about it. And Bo also wants the money and kidnaps Karen, but thanks to Bear he is killed. Chili ends up getting Ray Bones the keys to the locker, and he is caught shooting at the DEA at LAX, and Chili is Producing GET SHORTY with Harvey Keitel as Bones, and Penny Marshall directing it.

This movie is so much fun, and really John Travolta could never be cooler than this role, no wonder he wanted to reprise it, especially when Elmore Leonard wrote it with him in mind.

I highly recommend this film, it is great fun.