Humorous romp through the life of Hollywood bigwigs
 
REVIEWED BY DON PERLGUT
PITY poor American-Jewish film producer Ben (Robert De Niro). He has three children from two ex-wives, both of whom live in Los Angeles mansions that he is paying for.  
His oldest child, 17-year-old daughter Zoe (Kristen Stewart from Twilight), was in some sort of intimate relationship with an agent who just committed suicide.  
Ben is still in love with his most recent ex-wife Kelly (Robin Wright Penn), but she appears to be sleeping with married screenwriter Scott Solomon (Stanley Tucci), who is pitching him an un-produce-able script described as “the Rose Bowl Parade meets The Da Vinci Code”.
Kelly and Ben are going to “learn how to live apart” therapy to guarantee they “never want to get back together”.¬†He also has two Israeli businessmen desperate to throw money at his next film, whatever that is.
But there’s more. The director of his current film (Michael Wincott) -— a spoiled, neurotic British director with red-painted fingernails and a Chai tattooed on his neck (he claims to be a descendant of ghetto Jews from Vilna) -— wants to kill off not just the film’s leading man (played by Sean Penn, as himself), but also his leading man’s loyal dog. ¬†
As a result, studio head Lou Tarnow (Catherine Keener) is threatening to pull the film and prevent them from going to the Cannes Film Festival.¬†And his next film is about to start shooting starring Bruce Willis (also playing himself), except he is heavily overweight and has a large “Grizzly Adams” beard he won’t shave. ¬†
Willis’ agent (played by John Turturro) is so scared of him that he has crippling stomach pains.¬†This, in a nutshell, is the frenetic plot of What Just Happened, a frequently hilarious romp through two weeks of the life of film producer Ben. ¬†
Written by successful film producer Art Linson (Into the Wild, Fight Club, The Untouchables), based on his memoir and clearly, his life, it is directed by Barry Levinson (Wag the Dog, Bugsy, Rain Man), who is showing a return to form after a few less than successful outings.
I am a sucker for films about Hollywood, which is a very easily satirised place. The beauty of What Just Happened is that its comedy comes from situations that are probably not exaggerated, mostly just condensed.¬†This is probably the best -— at least the most intelligent -— comedy about Hollywood since Robert Altman’s The Player (Tropic Thunder was funny, just not that intelligent).¬†
But unlike Altman’s film there is no “dark heart” inside -— just a reasonably sincere, occasionally befuddled but earnest film producer, winningly and disarmingly played by De Niro.¬†The rest of the characters are also delightful the richness of the writing is evident.
The other thing about Hollywood, of course, is that it is so Jewish, and What Just Happened reflects this well.¬†As well as this film’s (real life) director and screenwriter, virtually every character on screen is explicitly Jewish, excepting the characters of Bruce Willis, Sean Penn and Wright Penn’s Kelly. True to Hollywood tradition, Ben “married Jewish” the first time, but found a blond shiksah the second.
De Niro’s subtle performance anchors What Just Happened in many unexpected but thoroughly enjoyable ways.¬†Recommended for filmgoers who enjoy the film industry and want a bit of depth to their comedies.