Cannes Closer What Just Happened? Is Tainted Goods

Slate's Kim Masters is coming a tad late to the Robert DeNiro career saga. (Patrick Goldstein got there first.) Word is that DeNiro's move from CAA was inspired when Martin Scorsese won the Oscar for The Departed after he left the agency. Apparently, DeNiro does want to move in the direction of quality. Finally. That's what The Good Shepherd was all about. But Oscar didn't happen.

In Barry Levinson's underrated What Just Happened?, DeNiro digs into one of his meatiest roles in recent years, as a jaded Hollywood producer (based on writer-producer Art Linson) who is trying to cope with this crazy business. While the French may be unaware of the pic's damaged rep after not selling at Sundance, the Hollywood satire (which climaxes at the Cannes Palais) is a perfect Cannes closer. The French will eat it up. What Just Happened? was tainted out of Sundance not because of bad reviews but because it was over-priced, didn't sell and just didn't belong there. Old-time Hollywood players were trying to go indie; they were fish out of water.

Here's a taste of Todd McCarthy's review:

Hollywood is skewered, but with a degree of benevolent indulgence, in "What Just Happened?" This is scarcely the first time prominent industry insiders have turned their lenses on their own kind to hold them up to public scrutiny, even ridicule, and in the annals of pictures about the film capital, writer-producer Art Linson and director Barry Levinson's rates somewhere in the midrange, both in quality and viciousness. A story very much by, about and for middle-aged men, and with the commercial limitations that implies, this intermittently amusing outing is graced by one of Robert De Niro's more engaging performances of recent vintage.

And Cinematical's Scott Weinberg:

Based on producer Art Linson's book What Just Happened? Bitter Hollywood Tales from the Front Line, the film version tells the story of one very successful Hollywood producer, and the ways in which he juggles multiple professional crises, as well as some prickly domestic issues at the same time. Robert De Niro is our movie producer, doing his best "sly" comedic work since (probably) Wag the Dog. John Turturro is the archetypal agent: skittish, shifty, and packing a nasty ulcer. Stanley Tucci is the writer who needs our protagonist for professional reasons, but pursues his ex-wife (Robin Wright Penn) for other activities. Michael Wincott is the drug-infested director whose ultra-edgy film is being mangled by horrifying studio boss Catherine Keener.

Comments

[Discman]

Am I the only person who thought De Niro was a hoot in "Stardust"? Maybe it was a paycheck job, but I thoroughly enjoyed that movie, messy though it was, and thought De Niro made it even better.

A friend of mine described De Niro's performance as a trainwreck.