What Just Happened

Plot synopsis:
Ben (Robert De Niro), a veteran Hollywood producer, is suffering a number of professional and personal problems. His latest film, Fiercely, has a disastrous test screening, mostly because of its ending which features the murder of its main character (played by Sean Penn, who plays himself elsewhere in the film) along with his pet dog.
Ben and his maverick British director, Jeremy Brunell (Michael Wincott), plead their case to studio executive Lou Tarnow (Catherine Keener). She accuses Ben of filming the dog's killing only so he could use it as a "bargaining chip" - to make it easier to negotiate against cutting other problematic scenes. Lou threatens to pull Ben's movie from Cannes and take over editing unless at least the dog's death is removed. Jeremy adamantly refuses, throwing a tantrum.
Adding to Ben's problems, he is having trouble making a clean break from Kelly, his second wife. Ben later discovers his wife is having an affair with Scott Solomon, a married screenwriter who Ben has previously worked with. Scott has a screenplay that he's trying to get off the ground, to which Brad Pitt later becomes attached.
Lastly the studio is threatening to cancel a planned Bruce Willis movie because of the star's unwillingness to shave the large, thick beard that he has grown. Ben's career hinges on the fate of the film, but any attempt to reason with Willis inevitably meets a violent, foul-mouthed response.
Ultimately Jeremy relents and re-edits the ending of Fiercely to have the dog survive. Ben tries to get Willis's agent, Dick Bell, to reason with him and get the beard removed, but his efforts only get Ben fired. Nonetheless, Willis does eventually shave his beard off, and the film goes ahead.
A week later, Ben, Lou and Jeremy attend Cannes, hopeful that they might take a Palme D'Or award. Unfortunately, and without telling Ben or Lou, Jeremy has re-edited Fiercely again, not only killing the dog, but adding nearly a full minute of bullets being shot into their bodies. While the new ending destroys the film's chances of a Palme d'Or and angers many in the audience, others eagerly applaud the final version of the film, including Sean Penn (playing himself). Lou is not impressed, and immediately flies out of Cannes on the studio's private jet, leaving Ben stranded in France.
Ben eventually does make it back home, in time for a photo-shoot of Hollywood's top thirty producers with Vanity Fair, although after the magazine's publishers hear about the debacle in Cannes, Ben is relegated to the far edge of the photo, meaning he will be barely noticeable.

Tags: comedy, boring, satire

Review:
I just got back from an AFI screening of Barry Levinson's satirical comedy, "What Just Happened?", an inside look into the movie business and big studio politics.
Bitter Hollywood Tales from the Front Line", the film version tells the story of a successful Hollywood producer, Ben, played by Robert Deniro, as he juggles his personal and professional crises.
This film has an impressive cast including Robin Wright Penn as Ben's second wife, Kelly; John Turturro as Dick, the stereotypical shifty agent; Stanley Tucci as Scott, the blocked screenplay writer; Michael Wincott as Jeremy, the temperamental director; Catherine Keener, as Lou, the hardcore studio exec; Bruce Willis as the demanding movie star; and Sean Penn as himself.This mildly funny expose of modern-day Hollywood, was entertaining, but a little disappointing.
As a gimmicky farce, it works, but as a satire it was a limp and familiar insider's movie that lacked sharp irony, humor and novel characters.This film won't appeal to everyone, but it does have some good one liners and funny moments.
But in a way What Just Happened was relatable for Levinson, despite it being the stories of Art Linson, semi-famous producer who's had hits and misses throughout his career, and at the same time gave him some ample material for some sardonic, spot-on satire of the industry.
It's not the Player, don't get me wrong, but it gives its winks and nods to the egomania, the preciousness of directors and stars, and how personal lives get caught up in the mix without getting too smug with us common moviegoers.Probably the funniest, as sort of a near running gag, is the latest film that producer Ben (De Niro) is being test-screened for audiences; a rough cut of "Fiercly" starring Sean Penn (who, as with Bruce Willis, plays "Himself" in the film) disturbs the audience because, on top of a bleak end for its hero, a dog is killed on screen (this, for all the wrong reasons, is hysterical funny, if only for the deadpan reaction from DeNiro to the insanely negative response cards).
Aside from some scenes where Levinson decides to rush things along via the speedy transitions, he provides a style that suits the feel of the material, of Ben trying to balance his personal struggles (an ex-wife he can't totally let go of, and his rebellious teen daughter with a secret) with the eternal BS of getting work done in an industry concerned, a lot more often than not, with the final dollar over artistic integrity.
A producer(DeNiro) with two ex-wives and families tries to get a British artsy director(Wincott) to change the ending of their most recent film, and Bruce Willis to shave off a beard(he's also gained weight, but no one seems to worry about him losing *that*) before he stars in a movie.
(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.
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..
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..
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).
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..
The movie is really just a short story about his travails while trying to complete an art house flick called "Fiercely", which starred Sean Penn, who also appears, as himself.The film begins with DeNiro in the initial pre-screening of the movie, attended by the Studio Head, Lou, played by Catherine Kinnear.
The Director was your typical temperamental artist / nutjob, who was violently opposed to any changes to the script.Other key backstories involved Bruce Willis, playing himself, who shows up for a film with a "Grizzly Adams" beard and about 50 pounds overweight, DeNiro's relationships with his two ex-wives and children, his relationship with Stan Tucci, a writer trying to get DeNiro to take on one of his screenplays (and who DeNiro suspects is sleeping with one of his ex-wives), and John Turturro as a craven, dyspeptic Hollywood agent, who could be a candidate for Best Supporting Actor for this role.
The main point seems to be that creativity is squelched in the Hollywood movie-making process, but the two characters who most represent creative integrity in the film (the Actor and the Director) are complete assholes who act cruel and crazy.
In this Hollywood industry in-joke movie by Barry Levinson, Robert De Niro is Ben, a producer who day after day (as on screen datelines inform us) just keeps having to face the same few "big" problems, rolling back in his face every morning in a bunch like Sisyphus' rock.
Now one of his directors, an eccentric Aussie with nail polish, spiky hair, and substance abuse issues called Jeremy Brunell (Michael Wincott), has just ended a new film in a singularly repulsive way involving Sean Penn, multiple bullet wounds, and a little white dog; and, being a classic dysfunctional prima donna, Mr. Brunell staunchly refuses to edit it, going into a psychological meltdown, despite a horrible test audience response and strenuous objections from the studio head, Lou Tarnow, impersonated by Catherine Keener.
What Just Happened (2008) ** (out of 4) Disappointing adaptation of Art Linson's book about a major Hollywood producer (Robert DeNiro) who finds his world both personally and professionally falling apart in the matter of one week.
This movie is an adaptation of film producer Art Linson's tales in the book "What Just Happened: Bitter Hollywood Tales From the Front Line," and as a movie, it's not completely boring, but it doesn't feel like I'm watching anything new.
I personally think they should have left this project alone; it works much better as a book, making anecdotes of the past instead of trying to make this Robert De Niro's producer-character life seem interesting.
There are great lines like "In the end, no director, no stars, not even a title...just a number" (as De Niro looks towards a movie poster with nothing but a dinosaur eye and the amount they got for the film).
I was expecting to watch a excellent movie seeing this one has three of my favourite actors, Bruce Willis, Sean Penn and the one and only Robert De Niro...
And that's the dilemma at the heart of "What Just Happened," Barry Levinson's film of producer Art Linson's own Hollywood expose: it feels rehearsed and dishonest in its intentions, to the point where lynchpin cameos from the likes of Bruce Willis, John Turturro, and Catherine Keener come off as grating, premeditated zingers instead of something genuine (let alone surprising).
While Robert De Niro gamely fills the shoes of a harried, philandering producer met with two major dilemmas over the course of one week (a director's decision to conclude his film with a shot of extreme animal cruelty; a prima-donna actor who refuses to shave his Grizzly Adams beard), the result is only sporadically entertaining, shifting from humor so subtle it barely breaks the surface, to loud attention-grabbers (Willis's initial meltdown is an amusing bit of scenery-chewing).
There are a few funny moments, but only a few.Basically, you can put a great actor in a film, but if you don't give him anything to work with, he just comes across looking a bit sheepish and almost embarrassed to be in it.I never thought I'd see the words 'Straight to DVD' associated with Robert DeNiro, but I think that would explain why this one disappeared before it came.9/10 for the impressive cast.
What Just Happened caught my attention due to the cast, and they performed their tasks well (in spite of often unfinished characters): Robert De Niro, Sean Penn, Bruce Willis, John Turturro, Stanley Tucci are excellent character actors always pleasant to watch.
The movie stars Robert De Niro as a Hollywood producer who can't get his temperamental director (Michael Wincott) to change the ending of his Sean Penn flick to please a demanding studio head.
I had good expectations before watching What Just Happened because Robert De Niro had previously worked with director Barry Levinson in Wag the Dog, one of my favorite political comedies, and I was enthusiastic to see them working together again in a satire of the film industry.
However, I would have thought that screenwriter Art Linson (who also wrote the book this movie is based on) would have had more things to say about Hollywood, since he has been working for various decades as a powerful producer with various mainstream films (such as, for example, Fight Club, Heat and The Untouchables) in his filmography.
And I think that is the main problem from What Just Happened: it does not even remotely go as far as it should, and it simply recycles the same jokes and situations we have seen in much better satires of the film industry, from the movie The Player to TV series like Entourage and Extras.Among the few positive things I can say about this movie, I have to mention the solid performances, from Stanley Tucci as a capricious screenwriter to Michael Wincott as a director/artist obsessed with his vision, without forgetting about Catherine Keener as an inflexible director from a studio and John Turturro as a traitor agent who is only worried in charging his next commission.
This is a satirical look at the chaos of Hollywood and film making based on the memoirs of film producer Art Linson and directed by Barry Levinson.Robert De Niro is the frazzled producer balancing his precarious personal and professional lives.
He has to deal with a prima donna Bruce Willis who refuses to shave off his beard and a highly strung British director who wants an uncompromising ending to a Sean Penn film where a dog meets a nasty fate much to the chagrin of the film studio boss.Its fun poke at Hollywood filled with star turns who are in on the joke and seem to enjoy themselves especially Willis and Penn.
The Fun in Seeing Big Name Actors Play Themselves Wears Thin Quickly as the Cringing Begins Early and Continues for Nearly Two Hours.Robert De Niro, One of the Big Stars who doesn't Play Himself, is a Producer and this is His Life, or at Least Life While Making a Movie or Two. The Setbacks from Bad Press Screenings and Juvenile Behavior from Very Rich and Powerful People is the Story and it is Not that Funny or Even Insightful.
I just watched this film and loved it from the beginning till the end!It's a fantastic,satirical film about the movie industry and based on a true story of a movie producer,Art Linson.In this film he's name is changed to Ben and played brilliantly by Robert De Niro.Sean Penn and Bruce Willis play them self,more or less.Aspecialy Willis is great as a kind of diva version of himself.It's all about the beard in this one!You got to see this film to believe!Hollywood is a crazy place and reality is goofier than fiction!There is only one problem with this picture,if you haven't got a sense of humor you probably won't like this Barry Levinson film.But for everybody else,fantastic film!!!
There's not much of a plot to Barry Levinson's Hollywood insider movie  everyone in producer Ben's life is making him miserable (except maybe that chick who comes on to him in the men's room).But it has it's moments: -- The Variety's headline about an agent's suicide has an underliner that says, "Ten percenter goes into turnaround." -- Then the comment about said suicide: "People in Colombia are mourning." -- Michael Wincott, playing a British director, was clearly instructed to act like a crazier Keith Richards, even wearing Indian feathers in his hair.-- The "edgy" moment in the movie-within-a-movie when not only do an adorable dog's brains get blown out, but the blood spatters right on the screen.-- The test audience comment cards after said movie that Ben reads afterwards, including "My wife is still crying" and, in one case, a big drawing of a raised middle finger.-- Bruce Willis' speech at the funeral.-- What happens to John Turturro at the cemetery.-- Bruce's tantrum.-- The director's tantrum.-- At the end, the fate of the world resting on what Bruce Willis looks like when he comes out of his trailer.-- Studio boss Catherine Keener showing the demeanor of an assassin all through the movie.-- DeNiro switching sides back and forth during the argument between the studio head and the director over whether the dog shooting can remain in the movie.It's not "The Player" or even "SOB," both of whom anyone who liked this movie should check out.
There are numerous small roles here by big names stars also, such as a unremarkable couple of appearances by Sean Penn and amusing use of a bearded Bruce Willis, but quite often the camera falls to Michael Wincott for support who gives a caricature but endlessly amusing performance as an artistically conflicted and frustrated director.Rather irksome though is that when it comes to the script and direction under Barry Levinson who himself knows the producer business all too well- the film doesn't achieve the poignancy that one would hope for.
This film is about a Hollywood producer who is having a rather bad time both in his job and in his family.I had rather high hopes that "What Just Happened" would be an intelligent satire, but I was utterly disappointed.
While the Penns share limited screen time in their individual roles, John Turturro as Bruce Willis' casting agent also contributes towards some of the hilarious one-liners with some palpable chemistry in supporting De Niro's lines.The dual climax of the film and also some of its intentionally funny suspense is whether or not the dog lives in the final cut and Bruce Willis shaving his enormous beard, each determining the fate of Ben's career amongst the 30 most powerful producers to appear on "Vanity Fair".
Levinson actually elicits good performances from the stalwart cast he has roped in: Robert De Niro (as a movie producer fraught by professional and private dilemmas), Robin Wright Penn (the ex-wife he cannot bring himself to give up), Catherine Keener (the intimidating studio head), John Turturro (an ulcer-ridden agent), Stanley Tucci (a scriptwriter pal of De Niro's who may be having an affair with Wright) and, as themselves, Sean Penn (who, admittedly, does not have much to do) and Bruce Willis (amusingly sending up his own image by putting on weight and growing a bushy beard!); the film, though, is actually stolen by Michael Wincott as a volatile and uncompromising director who dares to insert a (hilarious) blood-spattered close-up of a dog being shot in the head!
(Is it me or does he look much better with the goatee these days?) The movie is based on real-life producer Art Linson's book which is chock-full of anecdotes and true stories of absurdity from the world of film-making.
I don't know if this movie is trying to show the audience how in need of good movies Hollywood is or the director was just trying to make something different that didn't came out right.I really don't like that Sean Penn and Bruce Willis were playing themselves.