One would like every filmmaker to take a good look at Get Shorty. What is right with it? Cracking, vital dialogue (Elmore Leonard is right up there with David Mamet in his ability to create living, breathing characters). Actors who realize that comedy comes out of life, not acting like complete morons). Pacing: this film plays with one's sense of dawning realization. As a scene begins, you suddenly come to a point where you can tell what is going to happen, so you laugh both in anticipation, and as the expected event occurs.
I think I might have done myself some internal mischief laughing at Get Shorty. All in all, the richest comedy since A Fish Called Wanda.
The cast is just about perfect. Pulp Fiction was supposed to be John Travolta's big comeback movie, but I found him to be a pointless lump. Here, he is a slow-talking, amiable gangster. Rather than emulating such genre actors as Cagney or Edward G. Robinson, however, here he is the heir to Jimmy Stewart. Rene Russo doesn't have much to do but be a straight (wo)man and look gorgeous, both of which she does wonderfully. The supporting cast is wonderful. Gene Hackman plays an uncharacteristically dense character, Delroy Lindo combines menace and suavity, and the ubiquitous David Paymer as a nebbish (Is it my imagination, or does every recent film have either Wayne Knight or David Paymer in the cast?). Best of all is Dennis Farina as an incredibly violent, vain, and stupid mobster: it is a travesty that neither he nor Travolta received an Oscar nomination for this film. There are a number of unbilled cameos, the best of which is by Bette Midler: her entrance is one of the funniest in years. Of all the cast, only Danny DeVito disappoints. Perhaps it's just too much of a stretch to imagine DeVito as a respected serious actor. One can only wish Dustin Hoffman (who, it is rumored, is the real-life model for "Shorty") had taken the role.
I cannot recommend this film highly enough. It ranks up with Babe and Il Postino as one of the best films of 1995.
Copyright 1997 by Dale G. Abersold
