Get Shorty

Attitude plays a part
Attitude plays a part
GET SHORTY (15)
D: Barry Sonnenfeld
MGM/Jersey Films (Michael Shamberg, Danny DeVito & Stacey Sher)
USA 🇺🇸 1995
105 mins
 
Comedy/Crime
 
W: Scott Frank [based on the novel by Elmore Leonard]
DP: Don Peterman
Ed: Jim Miller
Mus: John Lurie
 
John Travolta (Chili Palmer), Rene Russo (Karen Flores), Gene Hackman (Harry Zimm), Danny DeVito (Martin Weir), Dennis Farina (Ray 'Bones' Barbone), Delroy Lindo (Bo Catlett), James Gandolfini (Bear)
 
Get Shorty is a film which went down well with film critics but wasn't so well received by the mainstream audiences. It probably helps if you're a film buff, since the comedy's main joke is to poke fun at Hollywood.
John Travolta plays Miami loan shark for the mob, Chili Palmer, who follows a bad debtor to the Californian Coast and gets himself involved in showbiz as a film producer.
Based on Elmore Leonard's novel, the film features snazzy characters, snappy dialogue and some very good performances, but it's also very understandable why some people didn't fall for its charms.
6/10

John Travolta & Rene Russo in Get Shorty
John Travolta & Rene Russo in Get Shorty