John Travolta is stayin' alive with the help of Elmore Leonard, but I'm not so sure about Elmore Leonard or the helpfulness of Peter Steinfeld's screenplay to his book.

Ron Phillips, MGM Pictures "Pulp Fiction's" John Travolta and Uma Thurman put their moves together again, this time as Chili and Edie in "Be Cool." Click photo for larger image. 'Be Cool' Rating: PG-13 for violence, sensuality and language. Starring: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Harvey Keitel, Vince Vaughn, Christina Milian, The Rock, Cedric the Entertainer, Andre 3000. Director: F. Gary Gray. Related article: Travolta, Thurman on the dance floor again

In the current comic crime caper "Be Cool," Travolta reprises his "Get Shorty" (1995) role of Chili Palmer, a low-level mobster trailing a deadbeat dry-cleaner from Miami to Hollywood. In that one, he wanted to get out of loan sharking and into the movie biz -- only to discover they're largely the same. This time around, Chili tries his entrepreneurial hand at the music industry and his romantic hand at Uma Thurman, widow of a freshly liquidated record producer.

They're pushing their hot new discovery Linda Moon (the very appealing Def Jam singer-actress Christina Milian). Trouble is, she has already been discovered -- and signed up -- by platter baron Harvey Keitel, who sends out his minions for revenge: Chili today will be cold tomorrow, while Uma and Christina are concerned with Aerosmith, a running-gag plot device in which Steven Tyler plays his (very strange-looking) self.

There are some funny moments in this romp, such as the inept Russian hitman, still sitting with gun in hand despite being dead as a doornail. But there are more moments when the comedy (with its heavy-handed ethnic spoofing) misses the mark. Director F. Gary Gray likewise spoils the potentially wonderful Travolta-Thurman dance scene, a sweetly choreographed adagio, by suddenly and stupidly truncating it midway, thus aborting the spell and full demo of JT's greatest skill.

Speaking of whom, he's more avuncular than brilliant here, and yet: I still believe in one John Travolta, creator of Vinnie Barbarino, who parlayed teen into screen success with the disco blockbuster "Saturday Night Fever" in 1977, descended into light-role hell in the '80s, then rose from the box-office dead with his "Pulp Fiction" comeback in 1994, whence he sitteth at (or near) the top of the popular heap. That Apostle's Creed, FYI, is recited daily by Richard Gere, who owes his own career to Travolta's bad judgment in turning down the leads for "Days of Heaven," "American Gigolo" and "An Officer and a Gentleman" (all of which went to the gerbil-plagued Gere).

Leonard's patented witty dialogue was wittier and cooler in "Get Shorty," but Travolta gets to reprise Chili's famous: "I'm not gonna say any more than I have to -- if that." The best exchange in "Be Cool" comes early, when Chili's Caddy (destroyed as collateral damage during a mob rub-out) is replaced by a tiny "environment-friendly" sub-compact. It gets 57 mph, by way of consolation. "What about speed?" asks bit-player Danny DeVito. "If you're important, people will wait," Chili replies.

"Be Cool" is a pleasant enough diversion overall, but neither its direction nor screenplay is on par with the Leonard adaptation of "Shorty" or "Jackie Brown." Neither is its supporting cast. We miss Gene Hackman and Rene Russo. But you might enjoy Vince Vaughn as an inept music manager and even more inept mobster with his faux "bro" talk ("A nice ass ain't gonna get you through your whole life -- you get to 30, you better have a personality!"), and the comic-thug turns of The Rock, Andre 3000 (ne Benjamin) and Cedric the Entertainer. Oh, those African-American monikers. Do you put Cedric under C or E in your Rolodex? If his studio or his IRS auditor calls, do they ask for "Mr. Entertainer" or, more formally, "Mr. The Entertainer"? Either way, I admire his getting away with that surname and am henceforth changing mine from Paris to "the Gadfly" -- MISTER The Gadfly, to you.