What Just Happened?

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Based on the endlessly-amusing memoirs of Hollywood producer Art Linson as he oversaw the likes of Fight Club and Heat, 'What Just Happened' has now been fictionalised for celluloid - which is silly, when you consider Linson's exploits were far more eventful and amusing in reality. Robert De Niro actually appears in the book, but here, he plays a version of Linson (renamed Ben), a hot-shot Hollywood suit who's struggling to cope with troublesome A-list movie stars (Bruce Willis playing himself), an ex-wife (Wright-Penn) who's sleeping with a screenwriter friend (Tucci) and a rogue director who won' t take the studio's notes. It's a morbidly intertwined world, and one that will disappoint fans of the book, while folk who stumble upon this material for the first time will find it akin to an episode of Entourage - just nowhere near as funny or entertaining. Director Barry Levinson stages proceedings like his last decent film (Wag the Dog) with an incessantly-used hand-held camera and frantic editing, both of which feel excessive and unwarranted throughout. Linson (who penned the script as well) lost the material's edginess when he transferred it to a screenplay, and Levinson is no longer a director who can elevate a lacking script. There are still many moments of fun to be had though; De Niro gives one of his best performances in recent years, Willis has a blast sending himself up (it's Alec Baldwin in the book, for those who are curious), and there are some cutting insights into the studio system (never kill the dog), that aptly exude the futility of the creative process. As it is, though, this is a standard take on one of the best books ever written on Hollywood. Linson may have produced some genuine classics, but this is far from one of them.