I sometimes wonder about Hollywood's marketing strategy. What Just Happened? is marketed as a satirical comedy, and the title is a comedy title, the tagline "In Hollywood, everybody can hear you scream" is a comedy tagline, and yet the film isn't really funny at all. The answer may be in the fact that this adapted by a Hollywood insider from his own book, and the material may well have been much funnier on the printed page. But on screen, this film comes across as a light satirical drama with little comedy.
Which is not to say that it's not a good film - I was always interested and entertained. Robert De Niro is Ben, a successful Hollywood producer who is currently dealing with three major problems. The first is influencing the disastrous final cut of Fiercely, a Sean Penn vehicle directed by a wayward English auteur who is determined to include an audience-alienating ending of Penn's dog being bloodily executed by hit men. The second is trying to persuade Bruce Willis to shave his Grizzly Adams beard off before filming starts in 3 days' time on a new film, in the face of Willis' aggressive and offensive determination to retain it. And the third is trying to deal with his continuing feelings for his second wife despite their divorce 18 months ago.
The film is effectively a window into Sam's life over a period of about a week, and not all the plot threads are resolved. There are other minor threads which are left dangling, such as Ben finding out that his high school daughter has had some sort of relationship with an agent who recently committed suicide, schmoozing with Arab would-be film financiers, a fling with a girl encountered at a trade function etc. - these things are all parts of Ben's life, but none of them actually goes anywhere within the currency of the movie. I found that I didn't mind this, however.
De Niro is workmanlike, but the part could have been played equally well by any decent actor of that age. Williis' much-ballyhooed performance consists of shouting and swearing a lot and throwing things around. While it fits in with the character, it's not particularly funny. John Turturro does a weird turn as Bruce Willis' agent, pathologically avoiding conflict, and beset with stomach ailments. Stanley Tucci has a thankless part as a character whose sole function appears to be to adorn the plot in the way an ornament adorns a mantelpiece. Robin Wright Penn is very good as Ben's ex-wife. Catherine Keener is good as production head Lou. But by far the best thing in the movie is Michael Wincott as maverick director Jeremy. Showing an entirely unexpected flair for comedy, he turns the temperamental Jeremy into the funniest thing on screen in the entire movie. He also does a very credible south London accent (or should that be sarf Landon?) So the verdict is that you'll enjoy it, particularly if you're interested in the movie process, but don't expect to laugh your socks off, because you won't.
Which is not to say that it's not a good film - I was always interested and entertained. Robert De Niro is Ben, a successful Hollywood producer who is currently dealing with three major problems. The first is influencing the disastrous final cut of Fiercely, a Sean Penn vehicle directed by a wayward English auteur who is determined to include an audience-alienating ending of Penn's dog being bloodily executed by hit men. The second is trying to persuade Bruce Willis to shave his Grizzly Adams beard off before filming starts in 3 days' time on a new film, in the face of Willis' aggressive and offensive determination to retain it. And the third is trying to deal with his continuing feelings for his second wife despite their divorce 18 months ago.
The film is effectively a window into Sam's life over a period of about a week, and not all the plot threads are resolved. There are other minor threads which are left dangling, such as Ben finding out that his high school daughter has had some sort of relationship with an agent who recently committed suicide, schmoozing with Arab would-be film financiers, a fling with a girl encountered at a trade function etc. - these things are all parts of Ben's life, but none of them actually goes anywhere within the currency of the movie. I found that I didn't mind this, however.
De Niro is workmanlike, but the part could have been played equally well by any decent actor of that age. Williis' much-ballyhooed performance consists of shouting and swearing a lot and throwing things around. While it fits in with the character, it's not particularly funny. John Turturro does a weird turn as Bruce Willis' agent, pathologically avoiding conflict, and beset with stomach ailments. Stanley Tucci has a thankless part as a character whose sole function appears to be to adorn the plot in the way an ornament adorns a mantelpiece. Robin Wright Penn is very good as Ben's ex-wife. Catherine Keener is good as production head Lou. But by far the best thing in the movie is Michael Wincott as maverick director Jeremy. Showing an entirely unexpected flair for comedy, he turns the temperamental Jeremy into the funniest thing on screen in the entire movie. He also does a very credible south London accent (or should that be sarf Landon?) So the verdict is that you'll enjoy it, particularly if you're interested in the movie process, but don't expect to laugh your socks off, because you won't.