“What Just Happened”? Not a lot. But if you’d like to see plenty of Robert De Niro face time in a character piece or you have a particular fascination with the inside-Hollywood lifestyles of the rich and nutty, than this sporadically amusing satire just might be for you.
With a droll, self-deprecating tone, some of the bigger names in the industry play along in this relatively small-scale screen adaptation of veteran filmmaker Art Linson’s roman a clef. With a script also written by Linson, whose numerous credits range from “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” to “Heat” to the recent “Into the Wild,” “What Just Happened” explores his neurotic professional and personal experiences through a crazy week in the life of a hapless producer named Ben (De Niro). A director-producer with similarly established credentials, Barry Levinson (“Diner,” “Rain Man,”) seems an appropriate candidate to be exploring this odd, rarefied subculture.
Lacking much in the way of plot, we instead simply follow along with Ben as he compromises artistic integrity, coddles outrageous egomaniacs, navigates treacherous red carpets, encounters cowardice in epic quantities, and wrangles his various exes and children to make his way in La-La Land.
Sean Penn and Bruce Willis appear as heightened versions of themselves with some fine character actors who are obviously relishing the chance to skewer their own.
Willis is especially funny playing himself as a screaming, controlling baby who is refusing to shave his beard for a role. This becomes an incident of catastrophic proportions in a world where showbiz types often view their work as if it’s brain surgery. (As someone who has dealt with stars, studios and publicists for some 17 years, I can personally attest to the distorted sense of self-importance that runs rampant among them.)
John Turturro is over-the-top but nevertheless fun to watch as obsessive-compulsive agent Dick Bell. Portraying the screenwriter who is shtupping Ben’s most recent wife (Robin Wright Penn), Stanley Tucci illustrates the callously casual intersection of the protagonist’s tenuous movie projects and his personal tribulations. Catherine Keener is suitably icy as the studio honcho who cares only for the bottom line.
The bottom line here? “The Player” did it more ingeniously and “Swimming with Sharks” did it with more bite. As far as twisted modern Tinseltown send-ups go, “Happened” just isn’t as happening as some others.
Quick info
“What Just Happened”
3 out of 5 Stars
Stars: Robert De Niro, Bruce Willis, John Turturro, Sean Penn
Director: Barry Levinson
Rated R for language, some violent images, sexual content and some drug material.
Running Time: 107 minutes
