Very cool: The Rock and Vince Vaughn steal the show in this surprising parody.

Be cool
Turn up the heat
John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Vince Vaughn, The Rock, Christine Milian

Rating: 3 stars

EXPECT nothing and be surprised. Be Cool looked like the usual poorly-made sequel (to Get Shorty) – it wasn’t.

Be Cool was a parody of itself, rarely serious, always funny. Chilli Palmer (Travolta) is a music manager. He grabs singer Linda (Milian) to take to his friend’s record company. Meanwhile, Linda’s former record company, a rival hip-hop producer and the Russian mafia want Chilli dead.

Chilli is ultra-suave and not at all ruffled by the bumbled attempts on his life. Vince Vaughn is perfect as the “wish I was black” manager and The Rock makes a genuinely funny foray into comedy, taking Zoolander’s “blue steel catwalk look” to a new level.

He’s the bodyguard who wants to be an actor and likes female roles. There are plenty of cameos to delight – Danny Devito, Black-Eyed Peas and Aerosmith all pop in to add to the script.

The best group of thugs is the rival record company whose top-billing act, WMD, are also the gun-toting posse. Outkast frontman Andre is the group leader with an itchy trigger finger and fine dining habits.

Be Cool is very clever and very funny – highly recommended.

– Lt Simone Heyer