Get Shorty (February 27/05)

Get Shorty was one of John Travolta's first movies after Pulp Fiction reinvigorated his career, and there's certainly an undeniable spark to his performance that's been lacking from some of his work as of late. As Chili Palmer, a mob guy turned movie producer, Travolta does a nice job of turning the character into someone we're willing to root for - despite the very obvious fact that he's not necessarily a good person.

Based on the novel by Elmore Leonard, Get Shorty features a whole host of quirky supporting characters. The story kicks off when Palmer heads to Hollywood to collect a debt from an inept b-movie producer named Harry Zimm (played by Gene Hackman). Perhaps in an effort to avoid paying his debts, Zimm begins involving Palmer in his day-to-day activities as a filmmaker - going so far as to seriously consider making a film out of one of his ideas. There are many, many more elements to Scott Frank's screenplay, which often feels overloaded with characters and subplots.

And that's really the biggest problem with Get Shorty: there's just too much going on here, making it impossible to really connect with anything or anyone. The only constant seems to be Travolta's Chili Palmer, and while he's a fairly likeable figure (due, in no small part, to Travolta's winning performance), Frank's script doesn't offer him a whole lot to do other than interact with overly quirky characters (ie Hackman's Zimm, Dennis Farina's Ray Barboni, etc). That the majority of these people remain wafer-thin in terms of motivation is particularly surprising given how talky the film is, something that can be attributed to the dialogue's emphasis on superficialities. As a result, characters are either engaging in insignificant conversations or hatching schemes - preventing the audience from attaching any interest to these characters.

Fortunately, the performances go a long way towards keeping things interesting - particularly in the case of Travolta and Hackman. Both men are very good in their respective roles, with Hackman effectively stepping into the shoes of an insecure, smarmy movie producer (a role requiring the actor to sport a comedically-enhanced pair of buck teeth; subtlety is not the film's strong suit). Barry Sonnenfeld, a filmmaker known for creative directorial choices, makes the unfortunate choice exercise restraint, despite the fact that some outlandish bursts of style would've infused this lackluster storyline with some much-needed energy.

In the end, it seems clear that Get Shorty will appeal mostly to those familiar with the source material - as it has to be more coherent and fleshed out than this.