Susan Granger’s review of “What Just Happened” (Magnolia Pictures)
I was born in Hollywood and raised in the motion picture industry. My father was a producer/director at M.G.M.; when he died, he was in charge of production at Columbia Pictures. My step-father was a producer at M.G.M. %u2013 and my brother and son both work in movie production. Since I’ve often been asked about the social hierarchy of TinselTown, here’s an insider’s glimpse into that treacherous industry. As he jockeys for a prominent place at a Vanity Fair photo shoot, Ben (Robert DeNiro) realizes the precariousness of his position in the Hollywood firmament. He’s battling a whiny, contentious, pill-popping British director (Michael Wincott) during post-production of “Fiercely,” an arty Sean Penn thriller scheduled to debut at Cannes within a week, and preparing to shoot a new Bruce Willis project as the volatile star goes temperamental. Fielding persistent phone calls, Ben’s trying to reconcile with his estranged second wife (Robin Wright Penn) and tend his two youngsters and a nubile teenage daughter from a previous marriage. Under the direction of cynical Barry Levinson (“Wag the Dog,” “Jimmy Hollywood”), DeNiro wryly exudes perturbation and frustration, coping with the savvy, shrewd studio chief (Catherine Keener), Willis’ neurotic agent (John Turturro) and a duplicitous screenwriter acquaintance (Stanley Tucci), as Penn and Wills gamely mock themselves. Based on his bestselling 2002 memoir, recalling his travails with director Lee Tamahori while making “The Edge” with Alec Baldwin and Anthony Hopkins, Art Linson’s screenplay is caustic, incisive – and a bit unfocused. Particularly when compared with previous behind-the-scenes classics like “The Bad and the Beautiful,” “Sullivan’s Travels,” “SOB” and “The Player.” Yet on the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “What Just Happened” is a snappy, satirical 7, a wryly amusing tale that rings all too true.
