Get Shorty

Get Shorty is really not a great comedy, but it is a decent one. Perhaps its close parallel to the movie industry is what gained it such praise, and perhaps if I came from or had experienced actual strife within movie production, the film would have meant more. But Get Shorty without knowledge of such things stands alone as a pretty good comedy. It follows a stoic and one-look John Travolta as an ex-loan shark named Chili Palmer. Chili has enjoyed his time as a loan shark and has been able to accumulate some tough-guy attitudes, but his heart really lies with the movies. He knows every last bit to Touch of Evil and makes it clear that he loves movies perhaps too often. He plays around with pretty much everyone else in the film including Danny DeVito as a popular movie star, Gene Hackman as a director/producer of schlock who tries to get some money off of Chili, a loser from the loan shark days, a loser who got lucky, a sensitive bodyguard, and a floozy. So perhaps Get Shorty's greatest strength is also its weakness. For, the architectural plot also undermines some of the scenes. We always feel like we're speeding somewhere in Get Shorty, and then some of the payoffs pass by without us noticing. This is to the film's detriment, but also the idiocy of the characters against a complicated plot ends up making for a quite funny film. And that's really all we ask out of a comedy: for it to be funny. Get Shorty has some quite hilarious moments in it as well. It's a solid comedy.
Get Shorty: ★★★