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John Travolta and Uma Thurman may be the film's stars, but the real entertainment value in Be Cool emanates from the scads of co-stars who rank a little lower on the celebrity food chain. Travolta and Thurman aren't bad here, but they are so cool that they seem to float above the production like Hollywood deities. The two actors even repeat their Pulp Fiction-style dance, this time to the Black Eyed Peas' "Sexy," but it's nowhere near as smooth as their first one.

The glue holding this pulpy work together is the large supporting cast, which includes Vince Vaughn, André "3000" Benjamin (of OutKast), Cedric the Entertainer and especially The Rock, who plays a gay bodyguard to Vaughn's trash-talking thug. The pro wrestler and actor, who does a monologue from the cheerleading saga Bring It On in an audition scene, is surprisingly hilarious and avoids gay stereotypes. He will be the talk of the movie.

Travolta, reviving his role as Chili Palmer from Get Shorty, has ascended from gangster to movie producer in this sequel based on the Elmore Leonard novel. But Palmer prefers being a gangster. "At least, they're honest about being dishonest," he says of his peers in the underworld. A soon-to-be-dead record-label owner (James Woods) asks Palmer to take over the contract of a hot young singer named Linda Moon (a sweet and convincing Christina Milian; see interview). The label's co-owner, Edie, is played with lean and hungry moves by Thurman. But two guys are holding on to Linda's contract with a vengeance: Nick Carr (Harvey Keitel) and Raji, whom Vaughn, in one of his funniest performances, plays as a white guy who thinks he's black.

A real group of gangstas turns up to cause even more commotion. The lead troublemaker is Cedric the Entertainer's Harvard-educated record producer, who hangs with a group of Hummer-driving hoods that includes Dabu, a trigger-happy guard played by Benjamin. Add in the Russian mafia and Aerosmith's Steven Tyler self-consciously playing himself, and the film presents a mad, mad, mad, mad music world.

Much like the recent Ocean's Twelve, Be Cool is mostly about glossy surfaces and stylized, Hollywood-insider moves. Even so, it works as glib amusement. Director F. Gary Gray (The Italian Job, Set It Off) knows how to put together a fast-paced distraction. It's simply a fun movie to watch.