What Just Happened? |  | Actors: Robert De Niro, Stanley Tucci
Studio: Magnolia
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy Used: $0.42
as of 3/14/2010 17:41 EDT details
You Save: $14.56 (97%)
New (39) Used (105) Collectible (1) from $0.42
Seller: dimplerecords
Rating:  33 reviews
Sales Rank: 25974
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 104 Minutes
Batteries Included: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 0.1 x 0 x 0
MPN: 876964001717
UPC: 876964001717
EAN: 0490581420913
ASIN: B001FB55XA
Theatrical Release Date: October 31, 2008
Release Date: February 24, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Features:
| • | What Just Happened is a winningly sharp comedy about two nail-biting, back-stabbing, roller-coaster weeks in the world of a middle-aged Hollywood producer -- as he tries to juggle an actual life with an outrageous series of crises in his day job. Academy Award winning director Barry Levinson reunites with Academy Award winning actor Robert De Niro and leading producer Art Linson, who wrote the |
|
| Similar Items:
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
WHAT JUST HAPPENED (DVD/WS/ENG-W/SP SUB)
Amazon.com
Somebody once dubbed Hollywood "the Dream Factory"; What Just Happened aims to make sad, occasionally zany comedy of the proposition that unreality is the keynote of Hollywood as place, process, and lifestyle. Art Linson wrote it, and as producer of The Untouchables, Fight Club, Heat, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, et numerous al., he must know the territory. Trouble is, after Robert Altman's way-superior The Player (1992), several seasons of Entourage, and wraparound entertainment coverage on cable TV and the Internet, most of What Just Happened feels secondhand and superfluous. Robert De Niro gives a low-key comic performance as Ben, a seasoned producer being relegated to the edge of Tinseltown's Big Picture. The test screening of his latest movie was a disaster because his arty Cockney director (Michael Wincott, savoring a rare comic opportunity) insists on killing off not only hero Sean Penn but also, unforgivably, his dog. And Ben's next movie may not get made at all because Bruce Willis is adamant about playing his part with an outlandish beard the studio won't stand for. Meanwhile, our beleaguered protagonist is living in a soulless plastic-and-chrome apartment while supporting two ex-wives in their respective Houses Beautiful. The second wife (Robin Wright Penn) has lined up a divorce counselor to help them get on with their separate lives, even as Ben yearns for reconciliation. What Just Happened re-teams De Niro with director Barry Levinson eleven years after Wag the Dog (1997), their surreal black comedy about Hollywood and Washington, different kinds of dream factory, collaborating on a politically expedient fiction and an unnecessary war. Nothing comparable is at stake here--though at one point studio boss Catherine Keener does evoke memories of President Lyndon Johnson issuing directives while perched on the commode. There are funny bits and deft touches from such redoubtable troupers as John Turturro--playing an agent terrified of talking to his clients--and Stanley Tucci, as a screenwriter who may be moving in on that wife Ben hopes to win back. However, Levinson's direction is so lackadaisical, there's barely a moment that doesn't nudge the whole enterprise toward the direct-to-video bin. --Richard T. Jameson
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 33
 Barry Levinson Lost His Edge February 14, 2010
carol irvin (United States)
I think some people hang around Hollywood too long and lose touch with what was so good about their work when they started out, namely a powerful take on something in the real world. This is Barry Levinson today in a nutshell, the director who gave us the wonderfully authentic DINER about his pals in his home town of Baltimore. Then his TIN MEN, also in Baltimore with Richard Dreyfus and Danny DeVito as shyster aluminum siding salesmen. Both were set in the distant decades, from when Levinson was growing up there.
Fast forward to today and Barry Levinson is making movies about the people he knows now: movie people. Robert DeNiro is his lead character, a beleaguered producer in the movie business who can't control a director who wants to shoot a dog in his new film's ending (just the movie) or Bruce Willis as the star of another film. The problem is that Levinson's movie people imitate being real people. That is what they do best. Leading lives of their own which are worth exploring, however, is not their strong suite. His people are vacant, spoiled, like hyperactive children in almost all facets of their lives. There is just nothing there but their obsession with the business. Levinson even tries turning to satire and these people are too vacant to even skewer satirically.
Woody Allen managed to successfully satirize the show business people in several of his films: PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO, STARDUST MEMORIES, and the Alan Alda-Woody Allen segment of CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS. He wrote absolutely brilliant scripts and was scathing about his intended subjects.
Barry Levinson is not Woody Allen. He can't even make this into anything comprehensible. Personally, I think he is long overdue for a sabbatical in Baltimore where he is forced to stay away from show biz types for at least a year. Maybe then his gifts will return.
As for Robert DeNiro, it is too bad he let Leonardo DiCaprio take over completely with Marty Scorsese in his latest films. Scorsese would have never let DeNiro make this drivel.
Put this on your "Must Miss" list.
 If you can't poke fun at yourself ... February 12, 2010
maniac
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Unlike CQ which SUCKED > movie within movie, this actually covers that niche.
It was interesting to watch Hollywood poke fun at itself while observing the damage inflicted to individuals.
Good Job!
super-realism February 9, 2010
Khashayar Roohollahi
it was a good movie. robust and brave script, nice acts, excellent outcome; i think the director should be proud of himself; the emotional effect the movie "as a whole" had on the audience was exactly the same as the dog killing scene had on the audience inside the movie(based on the bad reviews). it shattered their dreams , cliches and morale . this way you can say "what just happened' was an ultimate work of realism. the movie's realism extended beyond "the movie" . the audience were shocked 3 times. twice inside the movie and once outside, different scales same reason. i would not give it 5 stars if it meant to be an art house movie, it was superb due to the fact that it was supposed to be another hollywood comedy, it meant to please the masses and "make them laugh" as the line up and cover art were promising, but it did not, it shocked the poor things .
 The Movie Sucked, Thats What Happened! February 1, 2010
D. CO
I'm A BIG De Niro fan. I respect a lot of his movies. But this is the worst movie I have ever seen him in, by far the worst! The characters are boring there is nothing fun or memorable to get you interested in the characters themselves, or there lives for that matter. The story is all over the place. It was suppose to poke fun or the industry but can I get a laugh in the process. It was a real let down for a man of his talents. I can't imagine him looking over the script and thinking this was a good idea. I've never even heard of this movie and I see why. If I were able to give it a lower score I would. It doesn't have a single moment when you can say(honestly) to someone I atleast got 1 good laugh out of it, not one! This movie is so awful that I had to take a breaks because I couldn't stand to watch it for a long period time. It was that bad in my opinion. It took me 3 days to watch the whole thing. I was looking for 1 silver cloud in the other wise cesspool of a hurricane you would call a movie, also I try to finsh every move I watch so I can be fair. Don't waste your time, or money wait until it comes out on T.V. for FREE. Even then you should still get a refund.
 Cliché-ridden look at the film industry. December 30, 2009
S. Spears (Florence, MA)
This movie showcases the sleaziness of the Hollywood movie biz. This in itself, isn't a revelation to the viewer. Robert De Niro stars as Ben, an overburdened movie producer. Ben has to contend with the never-ending demands of 2 ex-wives, his ice-queen studio head, and a menagerie of various Hollywood prima donnas.
No matter how ridiculous things seem to become for Ben, he manages to take it all in stride. He copes by exuding a smoothly assuring demeanor, to those who constantly badger him with their expectations. The only thing that really seems to ruffle Ben's 'feathers', is when he discovers that his ex-wife sleeps with one of his colleagues.
The movie does feature a talented cast, besides De Niro as Ben. There's Sean Penn, playing himself. John Tutturo plays Dick Bell, the manically insecure talent Agent. And there's Kristen Stewart as Zoe, the studio head who everybody fears, including Ben.
Though the rest of the cast shines, Bruce Willis gives an absurdly overblown performance. Bruce plays himself. And he reacts like a violent madman, when asked to shave off his beard for a movie. The viewer is supposed to believe that Willis would be so attached to his beard, that he'd tear apart a studio in anger, when asked to shave it off. Willis always has been a Neanderthal, both on and off-screen. But even his fans would find his performance here, too heavy-handed to tolerate.
The only real plot to this movie, seems to be how trite the movie business is these days. Don't know why the producers, would think that there's any real entertainment value in the film. Watching filthy rich Hollywood power-brokers kvetch about their 'troubles', just didn't make me sympathetic to their 'plight'.
For most us who have to live paycheck-to-paycheck, feeling sorry for any of the characters in What Just Happened, is too much to ask. The characters all made their own over-privileged 'beds', now let them lie in them.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 33
|
|
|
