(1995) What's this, a violent comedy or a funny drama? Look at me and tell me, Mister Director Barry Sonnenfeld, what I wanna know. Or maybe I should ask Elmore Leonard, who wrote the novel from which the movie was adopted. Okay, "adapted," whadda I know?

A very cool collector of debts (aka loan shark), Chili Palmer (John Travolta), leaves Miami after his gangster boss Momo dies of a heart attack at his surprise 65th birthday party in Brooklyn, leaving Chili exposed to the demands of Ray "Bones" Barboni (Dennis Farina) to make good on Leo Devoe's $15,000 IOU.

After explaining how her husband didn't die in a plane crash but instead took the $300,000 settlement money with him to Vegas, Leo's wife Fay says to Chili: "You're a decent type of man, even if you are a crook."

Following Leo's trail to LA via Las Vegas, Chili makes acquaintance with Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman), a film producer, and actress Karen Flores (Rene Russo) in her house late at night, watching David Letterman on TV downstairs, while upstairs they're in bed. Chili, who's also a devoted fan of movies, pitches an idea to Harry for a film about a guy from Miami who's fled to LA, being chased by a shylock for a missing fifteen grand …

Harry, who owes two limo guys 200 large ones, asks a favor of Chili to get them off his back; the limo guys, Bo Catlett (Delroy Lindo) and Ronnie, who owe Mr Escobar half a million, cash stashed inside an airport locker under DEA surveillance, for a drug deal, have knocked off Mr Escobar's messenger and nephew, Yayo. No longer interested in his former occupation, Chili partners with Karen to produce a movie from a screenplay, Mr Lovejoy, in Harry's possession, starring Karen's former husband, movie star Martin Weir (Danny DeVito); but when Bo gets wind of the script, he wants a piece of the action as well.

The script was written by Harry's deceased pal Murray, whose lonely wife Doris (Bette Midler, whose name doesn't appear among the cast) wants a piece of Harry. Chili teaches Bo's heavy, Bear (James Gandolfini, with beard and ponytail), a former stuntman in films, a few new stunts before Bear performs the best trick of all. A few changes are needed in the script, Chili says to Karen, beginning with the title.

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