What Just Happened (2008)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Barry Levinson

Writers (WGA):

Art Linson (written by)
Art Linson (book)

Release Date:

28 November 2008 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

In Hollywood, everybody can hear you scream.

Plot:

Two weeks in the life of a fading Hollywood producer who's having a rough time trying to get his new picture made.

Plot Keywords:

Hollywood | Beard | Agent | Ex Wife | Actor

Cast

Robert De Niro	...	Ben
Sean Penn	...	Himself
Catherine Keener	...	Lou Tarnow
Bruce Willis	...	Actor
John Turturro	...	Dick Bell
Robin Wright Penn	...	Kelly
Stanley Tucci	...	Scott Solomon
Kristen Stewart	...	Zoe
Michael Wincott	...	Jeremy Brunell
Jason Kravits	...	Pollster (as Jason Kravitz)
Mark Ivanir	...	Johnny
Remy K. Selma	...	Jimmy (as Remy Selma)
Christopher Evan Welch	...	Studio Marketing Guy
Lily Rabe	...	Dawn
Sam Levinson	...	Carl

MPAA:

Rated R for language, some violent images, sexual content and some drug material.

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Hebrew | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS | DTS

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #44075) | UK:15 | Ireland:15A | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:16 | Finland:K-13 | Singapore:M18 (DVD rating) | Singapore:NC-16 | Germany:12 (f)

Filming Locations:

California State University Northridge - 18111 Nordhoff Street, Northridge, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

2929 Productions

Trivia:

The reunion between director Barry Levinson and star Robert De Niro eleven years after Wag the Dog (1997) (which also featured a Hollywood producer as a major character) and twelve years after Sleepers (1996).

Movie Connections:

References Plane Crazy (1928)

Soundtrack:

Flow of Experience

I'll tell you what happened!

I can applaud the effort here, it really wants to say something, I'm just not certain that the director had the balls or the producer the guts to give it both barrels! Which I suppose is ironic given the subject matter! (Though I don't think intentional) Robert De Nero plays an ailing producer on the decline in the business, he has two ex wives and stress from egotistical stars and their demands, whether it be high maintenance directors or attention seeking actors.

The core of the problem I have with the film is that the main character is completely unsympathetic.

You'll hate him, he's shallow, selfish, egotistical and devoid of any passion. Whilst this may be the point of the character, and I think it is, it doesn't make for a good film! I went away from the film thinking that they were trying to tell me that Hollywood is full of artists, but that the system breaks them down into nothing more that monkeys who turn out dross films that appeal to the mass market because focus groups tell them too.

Well if the artists are going to produce films like this then maybe there should be some editorial control, away from the hands of the artists because this missed, in my opinion, on just about every level.

The film that this will be compared to most is The Player by Robert Altman, a much better film and I highly recommend, the main difference between these two films however is in The Player everyone is in on the joke, Altman never speaks down to the audience and has fun with the story.

Tim Robbins (in The Player) is just as much of a shallow and hollow character and you'll dislike him as much as De Nero in this but because you are included in the joke, because you can see how distanced from reality he has become, by being a part of the Hollywood system, you can feel sorry for him.

Sadly for De Nero in this I couldn't.

I can't recommend this title to anyone but the dedicated film fan who will see a lot of the in jokes about Hollywood, everyone else should give it a miss.