Review: What Just Happened

Robert De Niro is a veteran mid-level film producer with a lot of shit to deal with right now, and not just professionally. He’s got two film projects running at the moment, one with a seriously temperamental Bruce Willis (as himself, kinda), who refuses to shave off a huge bushy beard for a romantic lead role (he also needs to lose a few pounds), and the other a violent, but pretentious action film that has just had an hilariously unhappy test screening (One especially amusing comment reads; ‘My wife is still crying, asshole!’), and has the money men above De Niro panicking. What was so bad about it? Well, audiences hated the part where Sean Penn (again as himself, kinda) shoots the dog in the head...in close-up. The drugged-out, neurotic English director (Michael Wincott- seemingly really wired) takes exception to demands from the producers to cut the scene out, claiming it would offend his artistic integrity and ruin his film and what he was trying to say. Icy studio head Catherine Keener (who else?) could care less about his damn artistic integrity and wants the scene cut out. Meanwhile, De Niro also has to deal with an ex-wife (Robin Wright Penn) whom he still loves but who has since moved on to his screenwriter friend Stanley Tucci. Then there’s his teen daughter (Kristen Stewart) whom he doesn’t have much time for, doesn’t really know very well, but feels kind bad about that and starts taking an interest. John Turturro plays an agent who like De Niro, is stressed beyond belief, with Willis’ antics apparently giving him stomach pains.

Not-bad Barry Levinson (“Good Morning Vietnam”, “Rain Man”)  adaptation of the Art Linson (producer of “We’re No Angels”, “The Untouchables”, and “Heat”) book is nothing particularly new or insightful and pretty safe, but there are fun moments nonetheless. Wincott (very convincing) and Willis (either a good sport or genuinely insane) get the best of it, with the debate over whether the dog gets shot or not, being a particularly hilarious (and sick) touch. The most interesting thing about Willis here is that when he shares a scene with De Niro, it’s Willis I’m most intimidated by and scared of, and given the other guy is Travis Bickle, that’s sayin’ something! De Niro, Keener, and Tucci are fine, but could play their parts in their sleep. I mean, Keener really ought to branch out a little every once in a while, and yet, she’s really the only person who could play her part, so I feel sorta bad for complaining. Still, I think she’s just about the most typecast actress in Hollywood (and remember what happened to poor Faye Dunaway after a while). Interesting musical cue taken from “Once Upon a Time in the West”, with Ennio Morricone’s “Man With the Harmonica” theme, though it seems a rather random inclusion here.

Scripted by Linson himself, the book based on his non-fictional experiences as a Hollywood producer, now being made fictional. However, apparently the Bruce Willis character is based on Linson’s experiences with Alec Baldwin in making “The Edge”. Given Baldwin’s intimidating reputation and noted temper, I believe it!. With this much talent involved, and a fascinating topic, the film really ought to have been better and more substantial than it actually is (though it deserved a bit better at the box-office than it reportedly earned), but I actually still favour it over the overrated Altman flick “The Player”.

Rating: C+