What Just Happened
An Oscar winning director behind the camera and a serious dose of star power in front of it make 2008's What Just Happened, an allegedly intimate look inside Hollywood, worth a look.
This somewhat edgy black comedy chronicles a week in the life of a Hollywood producer named Ben, played by Robert DeNiro. As we meet Ben, he is juggling professional and personal crises that have him teetering on the edge. He has a film about to be released starring Sean Penn, that might not make it to the Cannes Film Festival because the director doesn't want to cut a scene where a dog is shot. He also has a film about to begin shooting starring Bruce Willis, where production has stalled because the star refuses to shave his beard. Ben is also seriously trying to get back together with his ex-wife (Robin Wright) and learn what's going on with his teenage daughter (Kristen Stewart).
The screenplay by Art Linson, based on his own book, is supposed to be a daring look at Hollywood stripped bare giving us an up close look at the Hollywood movers and shakers who make and break careers with just a phone call and then go home and throw a cocktail party. As accurate as everything that is portrayed here might be, it all comes off as pretentious and superficial. Watching the delicate egos being massaged, the craftsman begging for work, the wives and children being neglected, and the funeral services being desecrated, I couldn't help but think that there are a lot more important things going on in the world. Not to mention the fact that a lot of the material covered here was covered more efficiently in the Robert Altman film The Player.
Fortunately, the film does benefit from having Oscar winner Barry Levinson in the director's chair. Levinson understands the inner workings of the Hollywood machine and his camera effectively lets us inside Ben's head and the pressure and pain he's going through. Levinson's veteran directorial eye gives this story the shot of realism it needs, with a strong assist from film editor Hank Corwin.
It was refreshing to see DeNiro appropriately cast for a change, playing a character his own age and of whom he has an understanding. DeNiro gets solid support from Catherine Keener as a hard-nosed studio head (modeled after Sherry Lansing I'm assuming), Stanley Tucci as an ambitious screenwriter, Michael Wincott as the drug-addled director, and John Turturro as a neurotic agent. Penn and Willis also seem to be enjoying playing themselves. It's no classic, but Levinson and his cast make it worth a look.
An Oscar winning director behind the camera and a serious dose of star power in front of it make 2008's What Just Happened, an allegedly intimate look inside Hollywood, worth a look.
This somewhat edgy black comedy chronicles a week in the life of a Hollywood producer named Ben, played by Robert DeNiro. As we meet Ben, he is juggling professional and personal crises that have him teetering on the edge. He has a film about to be released starring Sean Penn, that might not make it to the Cannes Film Festival because the director doesn't want to cut a scene where a dog is shot. He also has a film about to begin shooting starring Bruce Willis, where production has stalled because the star refuses to shave his beard. Ben is also seriously trying to get back together with his ex-wife (Robin Wright) and learn what's going on with his teenage daughter (Kristen Stewart).
The screenplay by Art Linson, based on his own book, is supposed to be a daring look at Hollywood stripped bare giving us an up close look at the Hollywood movers and shakers who make and break careers with just a phone call and then go home and throw a cocktail party. As accurate as everything that is portrayed here might be, it all comes off as pretentious and superficial. Watching the delicate egos being massaged, the craftsman begging for work, the wives and children being neglected, and the funeral services being desecrated, I couldn't help but think that there are a lot more important things going on in the world. Not to mention the fact that a lot of the material covered here was covered more efficiently in the Robert Altman film The Player.
Fortunately, the film does benefit from having Oscar winner Barry Levinson in the director's chair. Levinson understands the inner workings of the Hollywood machine and his camera effectively lets us inside Ben's head and the pressure and pain he's going through. Levinson's veteran directorial eye gives this story the shot of realism it needs, with a strong assist from film editor Hank Corwin.
It was refreshing to see DeNiro appropriately cast for a change, playing a character his own age and of whom he has an understanding. DeNiro gets solid support from Catherine Keener as a hard-nosed studio head (modeled after Sherry Lansing I'm assuming), Stanley Tucci as an ambitious screenwriter, Michael Wincott as the drug-addled director, and John Turturro as a neurotic agent. Penn and Willis also seem to be enjoying playing themselves. It's no classic, but Levinson and his cast make it worth a look.
Last edited by Gideon58; 09-12-20 at 06:57 PM.