Be Cool

by Elmore Leonard

[jamiereadthis]

Mr. Chili Palmer says it himself in this one, his own sequel: “A sequel has to be better’n the original or it’s not gonna work.” And I don’t know that it’s better than Shorty, but it’s sure about as much fun.

In fact, the only thing denting this one is that in between the two, I watched the movie Get Shorty. Travolta is a love-him-or-hate-him kind of actor, I think, and I lean towards the latter. He was so not the Chili in my mind and I wish I didn't have to work so hard in this one to picture anyone else but him. In other words, back to the Chili I liked.

But that’s all my problem, not the book’s. From the looks of it, I’ll steer clear of the abomination of the movie Be Cool, thank you very much. Which, funny enough, looks to prove the thesis here: once the machine of Hollywood gets its teeth in something, sit back and laugh at how much gets botched.