Reviews

What Just Happened

Half-baked insider parody

By PETER KEOUGH | October 28, 2008

2.0 Stars

Based on the Art Linson autobiography, this half-baked insider parody tries hard to be madcap. Burnt-out producer Ben (Robert De Niro) has problems: the director of his new movie has concocted a final scene in which the hero — played by Sean Penn (played by Sean Penn) — gets killed and his dog has its brains blown out. After a disastrous test screening, Ben still can’t persuade the loony filmmaker to kill the killing of the dog. Another project stars Bruce Willis (played by Bruce Willis), who shows up on the set with a beard and a bad attitude. Then Ben finds a pink argyle sock under his ex-wife’s bed, the kind of hosiery that could be worn only by the screenwriter (who isn’t Stanley Tucci but is played by him), a man who earlier in the film pitched Ben a script in which Brad Pitt (played by no one; he never makes an appearance) plays a florist. “There isn’t a film there,” Ben tells the screenwriter. Sounds like What Just Happened. 107 minutes | Boston Common + Fenway + Fresh Pond + Chestnut Hill + Suburbs

Related: 2009 Oscar predictions, Oscar predictions: Liberal gilt, Keough sweeps Oscars, More

Topics: Reviews , Celebrity News, Entertainment, Movies, More

HTML Prohibited

Add Comment

Today's Event Picks

[FILM] Harvard Film Archive's Retrospective: "The Searchers"

Plus 2 more >>

ARTICLES BY PETER KEOUGH

REVIEW: EDGE OF DARKNESS | February 05, 2010
A new genre is emerging in which aging A-list actors play fathers off on a rampage to rescue their daughters or avenge their deaths.

REVIEW: FROZEN | February 03, 2010
A storm is coming, the girl has to pee, and then things get much worse.

KAREN SCHMEER: 1970-2010 | February 02, 2010
Karen Schmeer, the brilliant local film editor whose work on Errol Morris's documentary The Fog of War helped win it the Best Documentary Oscar in 2004, died January 29 in a tragic accident, struck by a getaway car as she was crossing a street in Manhattan. She would have turned 40 on February 20.

IS THERE 'HOPE' IN HOLLYWOOD? | January 29, 2010
Buoyed by President Barack Obama's campaign slogan, many had hopes for change after his election.

REVIEW: WAITING FOR ARMAGEDDON | January 27, 2010
Much scarier than 2012 is this documentary about the death grip that fundamentalist religious groups have on American politics.

See all articles by: PETER KEOUGH

Most Viewed

Most Emailed

POOR RECEPTION
The right loves to rant against the "liberal-media elite," but there's one key media sector where the conservative id reigns supreme: talk radio.

IMPEACH JOHN ROBERTS
It is time for an enterprising and courageous member of the US House of Representatives to file articles of impeachment against the chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, John Roberts. The charge: lying under oath.

BAY STATE'S TOP LOBBYISTS
Nearly everyone in Massachusetts felt the pinch of the recession in 2009 — even Beacon Hill lobbyists had to tighten their belts.

HE'S SO INSECURE IT'S MAKING ME ILL
Sounds like someone's in the market for a new mommy.

REVIEW: DEAR JOHN
"We're sitting here . . . and we're talking, but nobody's actually saying anything."

HOW BIRDS GOT THEIR SONGS
Wakinyan RedShirt has made three films in his life: Lego Star Wars , Bionicle Heroes , and The Wolf Show . But perhaps his greatest flick, he says, is his latest.

KAREN SCHMEER: 1970-2010
Karen Schmeer, the brilliant local film editor whose work on Errol Morris's documentary The Fog of War helped win it the Best Documentary Oscar in 2004, died January 29 in a tragic accident, struck by a getaway car as she was crossing a street in Manhattan. She would have turned 40 on February 20.

BAY STATE'S TOP LOBBYISTS
Nearly everyone in Massachusetts felt the pinch of the recession in 2009 — even Beacon Hill lobbyists had to tighten their belts.

DAN’S PLACE
We didn't notice any grizzlies or cougars as road kill on our trek to Dan's Place, though we kept our eyes peeled there in the wilds of West Greenwich.