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Get Shorty (1995)

A review by Damian Cannon.
Copyright © Movie Reviews UK 1997
The fascination that Hollywood has with putting itself before the camera manifests itself once again with this amusing, in-joke laden look at the outsider who stumbles into the 'Big Smoke'. Chili Palmer (John Travolta) is a small-time loan shark, based in Miami and foisted with a new boss, Ray "Bones" Barboni (Dennis Farian). He doesn't much care for this line of work, or his associates, but it fills the gap until something better comes along. That 'something' arrives in the form of Leo Devoe (David Paymer), a dry-cleaner who's faked his own death and absconded to California, owing Chili's employers a lot of money. Following Leo's trail, Chili picks up another job (from a Las Vegas casino) which involves shaking down low-grade movie producer Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman) for unpaid gambling debts. Hence, it's perfectly logical that Chili would end up pitching (at 2am) an idea for a movie to Harry, having followed him and broken into the home of his on-off girlfriend, Karen Flores (Rene Russo).

There's a catch of course. The plot of this movie (which sounds eerily familiar) involves a loan shark who visits LA on the trail of a man who's faked his own demise. The only problem is that the story has no ending, which isn't surprising given that it hasn't happened yet! Harry shows some interest (although he's so slippery that he'll do anything to get his films made) and Chili decides to stay on in LA, perhaps as a producer. This is close to the fulfillment of a dream for this ex-gangster, given his abiding love of cinema (Chili seems to have seen all of Zimm's films and he knows most of the dialogue). Complications arise with the fact that Harry already owes a lot of money, primarily to LA hood Bo Catlett (Delroy Lindo), and that Barboni is on his way to LA in search of his missing cash.

The lure of Hollywood has drawn these diverse characters together, subtly warping their plans and sucking them into a tornado of action - with Chili's movie at the centre. The final key needed, by the various producers, is Martin Weir (Danny DeVito), a bona-fida star and ex-husband of Karen. He just flips over the idea, happily taking lessons from Chili on how to look menacing, although this is his usual behaviour for any script placed before him. Chili plays everything cool though, juggling violent demands from Catlett and Barboni, elliptical actions by Zimm and Weir, and a new-found love for Karen. It certainly seems that this straight-talking outsider can play the movie making game with more panache than anyone in Beverley Hills, just as long as his shady past doesn't catch up with him.

Get Shorty has striking similarities to much of Tarantino's work (the snappy dialogue, boldly drawn characters and movie trivia) but in this case the story is played strictly for laughs. This approach has its pros and cons but, on the whole, works well due to fine acting and the strength of Elmore Leonard's novel. Travolta is perfectly cast as the fantastically assured crook (who isn't really a bad guy), unleashing a performance of finely honed comic timing (together with echoes of Pulp Fiction). In common with films such as The Player and Bullets Over Broadway there are a wealth of in-jokes and unbilled cameos, which provide both a certain shared strength and tightly bind the film to this particular genre. Occasionally, however, the script becomes a little slack (particularly with the sub-plot involving a drug deal gone wrong) and the jokey way in which the various deaths are handled is notably throwaway. The result: a witty, engaging, better-than-average comedy (even if that wasn't the original intention of Leonard).

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