‘Look at me…. Look at me the way I’m looking at you’. Sonnenfeld’s screen adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s cult classic sees Chili Palmer (Travolta), a loan shark with mob connections straight out of Miami who ends up in L.A. with a taste for the movies.

Palmer, with a gift for captivating people’s attention, meets Harry Zimm (Hackman), a b-movie director with a gambling problem and even bigger problem by way of investor-cum-mobster Bo (Lindo).

They plan to get Zimm’s dream screenplay onto the screen with leading man Martin Weir (DeVito) with the assistance of a fine-looking Russo as Karen Flores an ex-b-movie star.

In a role that could easily have been written with him in mind Travolta is cool, calm and simply sublime. Strictly in-tune with Leonard’s 1984 novel the script is as snappy and nothing is lost in this well polished comedy.

DeVito, originally intened to play Palmer, is slick as the self-centred a-list movie star desperately wanting be ‘bad’ and Russo is well-cast as the sexy side-kick to Palmer.

An award winning film that is thoroughly entertaining, one that you can watch again, and again, and ….. Leonard has a sequel, so let’s hope they’re all up for it!