The movie is the sequel to the 1995 film adaptation of Get Shorty, with John Travolta reprising his role and also starring Cedric the Entertainer, Andre Benjamin, Vince Vaughn, Robert Pastorelli, Uma Thurman, James Woods, Christina Milian, Steven Tyler, Dwayne Johnson, Harvey Keitel, and Danny DeVito.

Ernesto "Chili" Palmer, restless and disenchanted with filmmaking, enters the music industry after witnessing the Ukrainian mob publicly whack his friend Tommy Athens, owner of a small, independent record label.

Chili offers to help Tommy's widow, Edie Athens, manage the failing business, which owes $300,000 to hip-hop producer Sin LaSalle.

Carr and Raji pay hitman Joe "Loop" Lupino to kill Chili before he can save Edie's company by arranging a live performance for Linda accompanied by Steven Tyler and Aerosmith.

After learning that Chili had gotten him an audition for a Nicole Kidman film, Elliot turns on Raji, who had erased the message on his answering machine.

Carr is arrested on murder charges when Chili makes sure he is caught with the bat used to kill Joe Loop, via another pawn ticket.

The site's critical consensus reads: "Be Cool is tepid, square, and lukewarm; as a parody of the music business, it has two left feet.

"[7] Halliwell called it "a palpable miss, a movie so lazy and laid back that it falls over; there are none of those insights ... that made Get Shorty so enjoyable".

[8] In an August 2015 interview with Deadline, director F. Gary Gray discussed the failure of the film, stating: "With Be Cool, I made some assumptions in thinking that movie was going to work.