Starring: Robert De Niro, Sean Penn
Director: Barry Levinson
Category: Comedy
Rated: R
“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 screenplay based on his bestselling memoir. They all join with an all-star cast in this rollicking, shrewd tale of a man besieged by people who want him to be all sorts of things – a money maker, an ego buster, a bad news breaker, an artistic champion, a loyal husband, an all-knowing father, not to mention sexy, youthful and tuned-in – everything except for the one thing he and all the preposterously behaved people he’s surrounded by really are: bumbling human beings just trying to survive by any means necessary. (Publisher)
Summary of critic reviews:
Chicago Tribune: ** (out of four)
New York Post: ** (out of four)
Rolling Stone: **1/2 (out of four)
USA Today: ** (out of four)
Overall: ** (out of four)
Tags: barry levinson, robert de niro, sean penn