Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Get Shorty (1995)
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Miami loan shark Chili Palmer (Travolta) follows a bad debt from one coast to the other, but he feels right at home when he touches down in LA. Instead of putting the squeeze on schlock movie-maker Harry Zimm (Hackman), Chili pitches his own story concept, agrees to back-off Harry's most impatient investor, ruthless drugs kingpin Bo Catlett (Lindo), and casually breaks into showbiz. Retired scream queen Karen Flores (Russo) provides an intro to her ex, diminutive Hollywood superstar Martin Weir (DeVito), and soon the deal is taking shape: money, murder and mayhem in Lalaland. By sticking closely to Elmore Leonard's novel (often word for word), director Sonnenfeld and screenwriter Scott Frank have plugged straight into the king of crime's most underrated attribute: the comedy of manners. Leonard's flashy characters are always trying on personalities for size, feeling each other out with flip remarks and attitude - everybody's looking for a piece of the action, and the movie fair fizzes with memorable double-talk and backchat. As satire, it's pretty broad, and so throwaway it almost cancels itself out, but the film-makers never overplay their hand: it's a breezy, smoothly sophisticated affair, capitalising on Travolta's low-key charisma. Snappily scored and edited - everything clicks.Author: TCh
Cast & crew
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Producer: Danny DeVito, Michael Shamberg, Stacey Sher
Cast: John Travolta, Gene Hackman, Rene Russo, Danny DeVito, Dennis Farian, Delroy Lindo, James Gandolfini, John Gries, David Paymer, Linda Hart, Barry Sonnenfeld, Harvey Keitel full cast
Genre(s): Thrillers
Duration: 105 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Stephen Poliakoff discusses 'Glorious 39'
Stephen Poliakoff’s ‘Glorious 39’ is his first film for cinema since ‘Food of Love’ in 1997. Dave Calhoun met him
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
Steven Soderbergh on 'The Informant!' and 'The Girlfriend Experience'
We talk to Steven Soderbergh about his two forthcoming films: one featuring a porn star, the other a chubby Matt Damon
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
London Children's Film Festival
Read our exclusive reviews of films playing at the 2009 London Children’s Film Festival
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
The Coen brothers discuss 'A Serious Man'
Masters of contrary comedy, Joel and Ethan Coen have struck gold again with their latest, ‘A Serious Man’
Michael Haneke discusses 'The White Ribbon'
Dave Calhoun met with Michael Haneke in Munich to mull over the details of his Palme d'Or winner, 'The White Ribbon'
Ten inspirations behind 'Avatar'?
Time Out ponders the influences behind James Cameron's anticipated space-opera on the basis of the trailer
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations












What do you think?
Post your review now