Review of What Just Happened (2008) by Barnaby G — 03 Dec 2009

I'll watch anything with Robert DeNiro in it. He's a great actor and when he's in a good movie, you're guaranteed to remember his performance for a long time. When he's in a bad movie, it hurts to see his talent wasted. And then there's movies like "What just happened?", where you get the feeling that, while they aren't bad, they wouldn't be worth watching if not for DeNiro being in them.

Another day, another "behind-the-scenes" story dealing with crazy producers, even crazier movie stars, and the one half-sane man trying to keep it all together. There's really nothing new being offered in "What just happened?", but it does provide a few funny episodes (the best involving the fate of a dog in a new Sean Penn art film) and it at least tries to set itself apart from the pack by taking things slow, letting DeNiro mull over his multiple problems as he drives down the streets of L.A. listening to the soundtrack of his new project.

Of course, there's such a thing as "too slow" and I think one of "What just happened?"'s failings is that it never achieves take-off velocity. DeNiro is supposed to be playing a Hollywood producer with way too much on his plate, but the leisurely pace at which the story moves doesn't really sell it. I can see DeNiro trying to be the calm man at the center of a Hollywood storm, but the problem is the storm comes across as sprinkling. Which would be ok if we at least got any sort of insight into show business of moviemaking, but like I said, there's nothing new here.

It's a competently made movie starring one of my favorite actors, which is the main reason why I haven't forgotten about it yet. Everybody else does a good job, but in the end they can't seem to convince me that they really have something to say.