Culture Blues

The Instant Movie Club: What Just Happened

Every week, your friends at Culture Blues get together to watch a movie from their Netflix Instant queue. Then, they sit down during fancy Hollywood pedicures to discuss it. This is The Instant Movie Club.

This week, we’ll be discussing What Just Happened, Barry Levinson's Hollywood insider comedy starring Robert De Niro. The below discussion contains heavy spoilers.

Next Week: Grace. Zombie baby. Seriously... zombie baby.

SPOILERS (AND TEMPER TANTRUMS) BELOW!

Ben: This is the second time I have seen this movie, and it was a different experience for me than the first viewing. Some things I appreciated more, and some less.

I find it to be somewhat ironic that a film that attempts to put Hollywood on trial for being phony and gutless is occasionally guilty of the same grievances. Bruce Willis’ mockery of A-list Hollywood talent (he plays himself) is just a tad too out there to sting anyone. Although as someone who has been told to shave a huge awesome beard, my heart went out to him. Michael Wincott’s performance as a pill popping prima donna director, hilarious as it may be (he has the line of the film when describing vicodin: “You could watch your mother get gang raped in broad day light and talk about the weather”), is nothing more than a stereotype. The movie doesn’t seem like a scathing satire to me, which is how I feel like it was intended, because there just isn’t any new ground covered. Agents are subhuman cannibals, I get it. Actors think they are important, I get it. I was surprised to read some of the reviews from halfwit Netflix users after watching the movie, whose biggest complaint was that the movie was made for Hollywood insiders and had no appeal for anyone else. If anything, there weren’t enough inside jokes for my liking. I didn’t feel like I was entering a new world.

All that aside, I still think the movie works. When you look at it as a story of someone who has a shitty week, it’s an enjoyable film. Robert De Niro’s character Ben, a big time producer, tells half truths for a living. De Niro has excellent comic timing when he’s not attempting over the top garbage (see: Meet the Fockers). His performance here is by no means earth shattering, but he works effectively as the audience’s tour guide through his fucked up week. Ben is often neutered by his job; forced to suck up to and accommodate actors, directors, and studio heads that are short sighted at best, and destructive at worst. These problems are certainly not unique to Hollywood.

Some of the earlier flaws I mentioned are mostly overwhelmed by what is just an amazing cast. I especially enjoyed the scenes of Ben interacting with screenwriter Scott Solomon, played by the always reliable Stanley Tucci. They discuss everything from Scott’s new screenplay about a florist, a shot at indie cinema that I think actually works, to Scott’s affair with Ben’s ex-wife. On a related matter, Robin Wright Penn is still hot ladies and gentlemen. I’m glad they didn’t focus too much on Ben’s relationship with his daughter Zoe, because I think it works really well as a peripheral storyline, just another thing in Ben’s life that he can’t control. Her revelation at the funeral that the deceased agent had touched her “everywhere” (she’s 17) was oversold by Kirsten Stewart, and undersold by De Niro perfectly when in a lot of movies those roles would have been reversed. And as another sidebar, Stewart’s facial expressions always lead me to believe that she has just bit into a fresh turd.

This is in some ways a flawed movie, but it is an enjoyable one. Questionable artistic intentions are rescued by absurdly hilarious moments, and as much talent as you can squeeze into one movie.

The faces of Hollywood.

Jeremiah: There is one immutable rule in Hollywood filmmaking: don't kill the dog.

What Just Happened features a major storyline that mocks the ridiculous and hypocritical premium placed on the lives of animals in movies and that is a credit to the film. Unfortunately, like so much of What Just Happened, I feel like the idea never really got to where it should be.

I agree with Ben's statement that there just isn't enough here to make this into the scathing commentary I think everyone wanted to make. And De Niro's character is indeed a “tour guide” as he walks us through Hollywood meetings offering some information here and there but without really doing anything. De Niro does nicely undersell a lot of moments. At the same time, I found the performance a little too low key. His placement in the “Power” picture is a cause for concern, not just because it bruises his ego (although that’s certainly part of it), but also because his stock really is dropping. Yet, he never really seems distressed by all this.

I also agree with Ben that there aren't enough insider jokes here. The audience for What Just Happened is familiar with everything from The Player and Bowfinger to Action and Entourage. There isn’t anything here that hasn’t already been done better in these other enterprises. Furthermore, all of these offer something beyond the "peek behind the curtain" novelty that What Just Happened seems all too content to settle for.

There are a handful of really funny moments, but What Just Happened doesn’t have anything to say until its final moments. The two major plotlines reach nearly simultaneous yet divergent conclusions. We are shown that the successful people in Hollywood are those that have learned to simply play along, as Bruce Willis not only kowtows to the demands of the studio, he also has a little fun with the idea that any one could be so stubborn as to sink an entire movie based on an idea as quaint as "artistic integrity." The dog storyline, on the other hand, proves that those who stay true to their vision and attempt something unique end up committing career suicide by not doing what the money people tell them. This is the kind of commentary that should have been made throughout, and much more explicitly at that.

"That was before we took ecstasy."

Jeff: So we’re all in agreement that What Just Happened doesn’t break any new ground and that it totally pussies out on the satire front. Overall, it’s an extremely shaky enterprise that handles its targets with kid gloves and politely tiptoes around any commentary that might be too harsh. I was surprised by the meekness here; especially considering this is a reteaming of Robert De Niro with Barry Levinson, the guys that gave us the brilliant and biting Wag the Dog. With that pedigree in mind, I suppose What Just Happened was bound to underwhelm.

What Just Happened certainly doesn’t want for talent, but it misuses what it has. Like Ben said, the Bruce Willis performance is too hammy to have any real impact and Michael Wincott’s dog murdering auteur Jeremy Brunell is pulled straight from the big box of archetypes. They should’ve just
called him British Billy Walsh. Or, better yet, had him do the entire movie as Top Dollar. That might seem like criticism of Willis and Wincott, but it’s more aimed at the wishy-washy script that doesn’t deserve, or know what to do with, all this talent. Willis provides a lot of genuine laughs and I found Wincott’s Cannes rebellion, specifically his French speech lambasting his clueless producers, to be the closest What Just Happened ever gets to subversive. The film is loaded with good performances. Ben singled out Stanley Tucci – I’m going to shout out John Turturro who does a great job as the anti Ari Gold, a wimpy, phlegm coughing agent that’s headed for a nervous breakdown.

All that said, I actually enjoyed What Just Happened. A big part of that is owed to Robert De Niro. He brings a weird sort of dignity to his role as professional ass-kisser. I think there’s a fear of irrelevancy here that holds up a mirror to De Niro’s own recent career. Unlike Jeremiah, I liked the low-key performance. Far from feeling detached, I thought De Niro’s under acting gave the film some necessary grounding and humanity. Of course, the script manages to fuck this up too, with a jarring fantasy sequence about halfway through the film where De Niro suddenly transforms into Travis Bickle to beat up on Stanley Tucci. It’s a weird choice, the entire scene feels shoe-horned, and it infuses De Niro with the typecast intensity that he spends the rest of the movie playing away from.

What Just Happened is a big missed opportunity. Packed with talent and potential, it’s just one misfire after another. But, seeing De Niro act outside of shit roles like Righteous Kill and Stardust was worth it for me. This guy should make more movies.

Where do you think What Just Happened falls in the spectrum of industry satires? Will De Niro's career ever recover from the rest of the Oughties or is it time to put him out to pasture? Sound off in the comments section below.

Next week: Grace