Review of What Just Happened (2008) by Cordi — 21 Apr 2009

There's nothing wrong with What Just Happened that being released 15 years ago wouldn't have solved. Back then, it's gentle ribbing would've felt more provacative, more scathing. But now, it's weak, and we've all seen it before. We've watched stars loose their minds and yell and scream. We've seen asshole studio exectutives prepared to destroy a film to save a buck. We've seen the temper tantrums thrown by bitter filmmakers losing their final cut. We've seen it all before, done better, usually funnier. What Just Happened is a more gentle film than I expected - where we should've got biting satire, what we get is good natured poking fun. Which would be fine if the film were funny, but surprisingly, it isn't.

Take Bruce Willis, for instance. His character in this movie sort of showcases why What Just Happened doesn't really work. He plays himself, where he's in jeopardy of tanking a recent movie shoot by gaining tons of weight and refusing to shave his "Grizzly Adams" beard (which I think was only in the movie because the filmmakers seem to think it's amusing enough that Bruce Willis has a beard - nothing original or interesting is actually done with the concept). He's in the movie for a total of three scenes - the final one where all is easily resolved, the second one where he's silently seething at a funeral, and the first one, where he screams and yells and throws shit around at the idea of having to shave his beard. In all three scenes......no one makes fun of him. Not Art Linson, the writer, not Barry Levinson, the director - hell, not even Bruce Willis himself. You'd think that if you're hired to play yourself in a movie, and the role consists of basically yelling and bitching the whole time, you'd have the common sense to make that humourous. But all he does is yell, and storm around flustered. Where's the bite? Where's the teeth? Sean Penn is also in the movie playing himself, which is something that could've and certainly should've been ripe for making fun of. But he just appears, casually, not making any impact at all. If you have a celebrity cameo, you need to give the celeb a REASON for being funny - simply showing up with a funky beard isn't remotely funny enough.

Entourage, admittedly, has stolen a lot of this film's thunder. It's been going on strong for 5 seasons, barely a weak episode in the bunch, and has consistently ripped Hollywood to shreds with uproarious and hilarious results (not to mention it shows a surprising amount of behind-the-scenes depth and realism). And why not? If any major city should be made fun of, it's Hollywood. But for some reason, Levinson doesn't seem interested in that. He gives us a strong lead character, played well by Robert De Niro, but throughout the entire movie he makes no mistakes, and no successes. He simply reacts to the shitstorm around him, and that doesn't provide riveting cinema. He doesn't even have a character arc; the moments where you think something should happen or change, especially with regards to pivotal subplots, are dropped or ignored. Supporting characters come and go, disappearing with almost startling regularity - Catherine Keener is a vicious studio executive that would've been a perfect chance for comedy, but she's hardly in the movie. Robin Wright Penn plays De Niro's second ex wife, and she hardly has anything to do either. John Tuturro's an agent, Stanley Tucci's a writer, Kristen Stewart is a daughter, and....by the end, none of them have had anything to do. They show up briefly for a scene or two, then disappear.

Simply put, this isn't a strong screenplay. When you make a movie about Hollywood, you either need to make it a fun love letter to the city, or attack it with ferocity. Otherwise, we're not seeing anything different from picking up the latest issue of Star magazine. Levinson does indeed direct the flick well (even though he overuses the "busy-bee" style of fast paced, sped up photography during car scenes), and it's also acted as well as it could've been. But by the time it was over...yeah, I had a few laughs, and smiled a couple times. But I'm going to so easily forget about this movie that there is no denying the sense of a massive missed opportunity. It's an Ok watching experience, but nothing more. The next time a filmmaker has the chance to make fun of Sean Penn, please, show no mercy!