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Get Shorty
MGM


8.2

based on 22 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 11 votes
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FILM:

Be Cool

MPAA RATING: R for language and some violence

Starring John Travolta, Gene Hackman, Rene Russo, Danny DeVito, and Dennis Farina

Chili Palmer (Travolta) is a Miami loan shark who's sent to Los Angeles to collect on a gambling debt from film producer Harry Zimm (Hackman). Chili soon discovers that loansharking was the perfect training ground for making movies...though you have to be ruthless to make it in Hollywood. (MGM)

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Elmore Leonard (novel) Scott Frank
DIRECTED BY:	Barry Sonnenfeld
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: March 24, 1997 Video: January 1, 1995 Theatrical: October 25, 1995
RUNNING TIME:	105 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

One of the best movies of the year and by far the most entertaining.

Film.com John Hartl

Practically perfect in its unpretentious way, MGM's Get Shorty is the kind of smart, witty, polished entertainment that restores one's faith in the studio system.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

In Get Shorty, director Barry Sonnenfeld's spirited adaptation of the Elmore Leonard novel, Travolta's rebirth accelerates directly into adulthood.

Time Richard Schickel

A smart, shrewdly crafted movie.

Newsweek David Ansen

Barry Sonnenfeld's bouncy, immensely likable adaptation.

Washington Post Hal Hinson

Barry Sonnenfeld's irresistibly charming lampoon of Hollywood.

Film.com Sean Means

Director Barry Sonnenfeld captures Hollywood in sunny tones, with fluid camera moves providing maximum comic effect.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

One of the pleasures of Get Shorty is watching the way the plot moves effortlessly from crime to the movies - not a long distance, since both industries are based on fear, greed, creativity and intimidation.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Hackman is unexpectedly hilarious. With protruding top teeth and a professorial beard, he's a motormouth, badgering and abusing one minute, wheedling and fawning the next.

San Francisco Examiner Barbara Shulgasser

This movie is charming the way so few movies are anymore.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

With Get Shorty, Sonnenfeld has shown that broad appeal doesn't necessarily equate with stupidity. That's a lesson Hollywood should learn.

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

The author's sardonic voice has been lost in most films based on his fiction, but this one nicely captures that unruffled Leonard authority. And since Get Shorty is about Hollywood, it invites the sneaky self-mockery that gives this film its comic punch. [20 October 1995, p. C1]

Variety Staff (Not credited)

Good, sly fun.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

An entertaining comedy-thriller directed with bounce (if not much nuance) by Barry Sonnenfeld.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

The jokes are quick, with clever jibes alternating with double-crosses and the occasional murder, and the streamlined plot unrolls like a colorful ball of twine.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

The film is wickedly hilarious but more in a droll and knowing kind of sense than a har-de-har-har manner.

San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann

Get Shorty is exquisitely cast, with droll, well-nuanced performances.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

One of the sharper, funnier, better-cast, better-written movies around right now. But there's something about it that, well, comes up short. [20 October 1995, Friday, p.C]

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The picture has enough assets to please moviegoers willing to put up with its many four-letter words and the bursts of violence that spring from nowhere at unexpected moments. [27 October 1995, Arts Film, p.12]

USA Today Staff [Not Credited]

Though it sounds like a blueprint for either disaster or dynamite, the movie is a bit too controlled to be either.

TV Guide Harlan Jacobson

Get Shorty's assortment of lowlifes and high rollers is a familiar one, but it's still deeply satisfying.

Mr. Showbiz F. X. Feeney

A smirky black comedy that, like its John Lurie score, is jazzy, dry, and light on its feet.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.2 (out of 10) based on 11 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Chris M. gave it a9:
This movie is a lot like "The Player" a little more entertaining though.

Dan C. gave it a 10:
Very much fun. Travolta, Hackman and DeVito are great. My favorite character is Barboni who can't say a sentence with some sort of profanity. The film is chock full of great dialogue. It makes you wonder why John Travolta stopped making films like this and Pulp Fiction in favor of crap like Basic and Domestic Disturbance.

Alex W. gave it a 10:
One of the best and original movies ive seen in a long time hats off to all the actors especially to travolta himself for his amazing portraly of the coolest guy i know.

Yoon Min C. gave it a 7:
Less a finished product than a rehearsal for a gangster comedy about the movie business(Tarantino crossed with Fellini of 8 1/2), it strides along amusingly enough based on the conceit that the story is the basis for the movie they are trying to make in the movie. A better movie would have finally brought all the disparate elements into a well-resolved climax(like Midnight Run or Reservoir Dogs where everything falls into place)but one can't complain too much with such star studded cast having so much fun. Priceless is movie ad with Devito as Napoleon.

Francisco M. gave it a 10:
I love this Movie!! Without a doubt Travoltas best work, and who can forget the Rene Russo. It is a classic!!

K. R. gave it a 10:
Incredible, very funny.

Get Shorty MGM

Get Shorty
MGM