What Just 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.

This is just pointless...

I have no idea what they really wanted to say...some Hollywood inside truth? Yeah, I knew that pretty clear, because this is not the first film that discussed that! Worse is that it seems that the actors did not know that it could be so boring...Come on, don't tell me they liked the script...

Robert De Niro himself looked quite "bored" in the film, and I couldn't help but wonder whether he just got disappointed in the midway of making it...His performance was so...plain, that you cannot give any serious comment on it...

Anyway, I do not know what this film is actually trying to convey, but I as a common audience were obviously ignored when it started to tell a story.

The film is certainly enjoyable, and has several laugh-out-loud moments. However, like the film within the film, What Just Happened? feels too long. As a filmmaker myself, I really enjoyed this film, but I am afraid that much of the appeal will be missing in a general audience. A producer trying to change Bruce Willis' mind is pretty funny, but how funny is it to a non-producer or a non-Bruce-Willis? The performances, are, of course, outstanding. The entire cast is composed of nearly uncriticizable actors who are superb in any role they attempt. If you have an interest in how films come to be, this is a fun little flick. If you don't care about the behind-the-scenes, you may want to sit this one out.

Art Linson's memoirs are a reminder of what a sad place Hollywood really is. We got closer and more original glimpses in films that go from Wilder's "Sunset Boulevard" to Altman's "The Player". Bernard Rose's "Ivansextc" also comes to mind not to mention Blake Edwards's SOB. Here the prototypes are well known even by people who have nothing to do with the film industry so one gets a bit impatient waiting for this fresh look from a prominent, still active, Hollywood producer. No such luck but there are other elements that make the film fun to watch if nothing else. To see Robert De Niro play "a character" that it's not in any way a semi parody of the films that made him famous is a welcome surprise in itself. Barry Levinson shows that he's as sharp as ever and the rhythms that he finds to tell the story keeps the tired tale not only alive but almost gripping.

Misgivings aside, it has to be said: What Just Happened is Robert De Niro's glorious return to form. Though his performance isn't particularly classic, it's the back-to-basics effortless brilliance of Bobby that we've been recently starved of. The role of producer Ben is perfect for him, mixing hot-headed comedy with grouchy but nonetheless heart-warming sentimentality.

The film itself, however, is not quite as worthy a comeback we would have expected, but still garners some witty laughs and a realistically melancholy view of the bittersweet world of Hollywood. The opening scene is playfully familiar to cinema, particularly the eponymous taboo that horrifies the audience. It's a great scene, mainly because of De Niro's deadpan but wise monologue, which is the first thing to certify this as his return to form.

But despite an effective beginning, the rest of the movie seems scattershot; the narrative tries to skim its way through all the familiar faces of film making (director, studio exec, agent, screenwriter, pompous actor, etc.), while simultaneously trying to prominently develop the long-existing love-hate between Ben and his wife (an acceptable but grounded Robin Wright Penn). Turtorro and Wincott's performances are actually quite hilarious (each idiosyncratic moan delivered at perfect and rib-tickling time by Turtorro, and the outburst and subsequent fall from grace of Keith Richard-esquire Wincott is brilliant).

Even De Niro suffers sometimes; some of the foul-mouthed wit sounds odd and outlandish in the mouth of his reasonably straight-laced character, so some of the gags are lost, but this is more the fault of ill-conceived writing. The Bruce Willis subplot loses interest after Willis' only amusing scene; his enraged breakdown after being told to shave his beard, which, in itself, is helped by Ben's sarcastic but regretful outburst. There are some touching scenes that show Ben's tendency as a reactionary: the chair in his ex-wife's house, and his increasing annoyance at Willis, particularly his comments at a funeral.

The film works best on the good sportsmanship of the cast and their willingness to laugh at themselves, which, as the film tellingly shows, is universal in the cutthroat world of Hollywood.