I think I'm one of the very few outcasts in this world who actually liked this film! It's not Get Shorty - we all know it's not Get Shorty, but Sonnenfeld doesn't do sequels (unless they're Men in Black...) and Tarentino was off masturbating to Kill Bill 2, and so we get F. Gary Gray of 'The Italian Botch' to try and foul it up.
I admit there were flaws. Travolta was flat, Keitel was generic, Uma still looks like a heroin addict and doesn't hold a candle to Rene Russo's performance in Get Shorty, Gray pushed a lot of filler into the film and could have lopped a good 20 minutes, and it's obvious that Leonard didn't adapt the screenplay by his lonesome.
But The Rock was outstanding - a pleasant surprise that proves once again that he is an intelligent and strong actor who can break out of his mold and isn't afraid to poke fun at himself, and Andre Benjamin, Cedric the Entertainer and Vince Vaughan were all a pleasure to watch, each equally willing to have fun at their own expenses. The music videos were irritating on the whole, but the Aerosmith performance blew me away - and I don't even like that song (or the four clones of that song that were also released as singles) - but the performance was powerful, and Steven Tyler was great to watch throughout.
It's not as sharp as Leonard's other offerings, with little dramatic tension and perhaps too much of an accent on comedy, but if you go in without high expectations and realize that this isn't Get Shorty but a self-mocking sequel that understands inherently that it's only a shadow of the original, then you'll have a lot of fun and a lot of laughs. It's not the best film of the year, but it's certainly an entertaining one! 7/10.
I admit there were flaws. Travolta was flat, Keitel was generic, Uma still looks like a heroin addict and doesn't hold a candle to Rene Russo's performance in Get Shorty, Gray pushed a lot of filler into the film and could have lopped a good 20 minutes, and it's obvious that Leonard didn't adapt the screenplay by his lonesome.
But The Rock was outstanding - a pleasant surprise that proves once again that he is an intelligent and strong actor who can break out of his mold and isn't afraid to poke fun at himself, and Andre Benjamin, Cedric the Entertainer and Vince Vaughan were all a pleasure to watch, each equally willing to have fun at their own expenses. The music videos were irritating on the whole, but the Aerosmith performance blew me away - and I don't even like that song (or the four clones of that song that were also released as singles) - but the performance was powerful, and Steven Tyler was great to watch throughout.
It's not as sharp as Leonard's other offerings, with little dramatic tension and perhaps too much of an accent on comedy, but if you go in without high expectations and realize that this isn't Get Shorty but a self-mocking sequel that understands inherently that it's only a shadow of the original, then you'll have a lot of fun and a lot of laughs. It's not the best film of the year, but it's certainly an entertaining one! 7/10.