by MARK SLUTSKY

Elmore Leonard's novels seem like such natural material for the big screen. So it's no wonder that so many of them have been adapted by filmmakers looking to translate his uniquely witty and well-constructed writing into movies as entertaining as the books they're based on. But they don't always make the jump well - for every Out of Sight and Jackie Brown you've got a Touch or The Big Bounce. And then there's the case of Barry Sonnenfeld's Get Shorty, a big hit loved by many and reviled by many others, this writer included.

What with Shorty's success, an adaptation of Leonard's sequel, Be Cool, was inevitable. This time directed by F. Gary Gray, Be Cool has John Travolta return as Chili Palmer, the loan shark turned movie producer. But save a guest appearance from Danny DeVito, the cast is largely new, and fairly star-studded: Uma Thurman, Vince Vaughn, Cedric the Entertainer, André Benjamin (whom you may know as OutKast's André 3000), Harvey Keitel, The Rock, Christina Milian, and plenty of self-congratulatory celeb cameos.

As the movie begins, Chili's looking to get out of the movie business and bust into the music world. He takes on a cute young singer (Milian), who's unfortunately bound by the terms of a stringent contract owned by agent Keitel, and administered by his jive-talking goon (Vaughn, in a totally annoying performance), and his goon (The Rock, bringing his usual amiable presence, and the luck of having the only funny scene in the movie). All these folks somehow get mixed up with Cedric the Entertainer, also playing a music mogul with his own complement of thugs (including Benjamin, who doesn't really distinguish himself). And then there's the Russian mob.

The overly convoluted plot is, of course, part of the movie's antic style. But you've got to really know how to handle all the comic twists and turns, and Gray seems really asleep at the wheel - the movie feels leaden and clunky and the jokes never hit their marks. You really feel the desperation when Thurman and Travolta recreate the dance scene from Pulp Fiction, a move that is as pointless and embarrassing as, well, the rest of the movie.

Be Cool opens Friday, Mar. 4

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