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What Just Happened? Details

2008 Certificate 15
  • Rated:
  • 50
  • from 3961 members

"What Just Happened" is 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. This is the tale of a man besieged by people who want him all to be sorts of things--a money maker, an ego .. Read more

Starring John Turturro, Robert De Niro, Sean Penn, Stanley Tucci
Director Barry Levinson
Genres Comedy, Drama

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What Just Happened?

"What Just Happened" is 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. This is the tale of a man besieged by people who want him all to be 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. Ben is already in over his head trying to balance the tug-of-war of having two ex-wives and two different families with his latest business venture--the boldly "visionary" movie "Fiercely," starring Sean Penn--when everything that can go wrong goes completely screwy. Somehow amidst all the madness, treachery, deceit, runaway egos, rampant commercialism, personal politics and atrocious behavior of America's dream-making machinery, Ben has to find a way not just to make it to Cannes with a finished film, but to cope...

Starring John Turturro, Robert De Niro, Sean Penn, Stanley Tucci, Kristen Stewart
Director Barry Levinson
Studio 20TH CENTURY FOX HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Run time DVD: 1 hr 47 mins
Certificate Certificate 15
Collections 100 Most Wanted
Genres Comedy, Drama
Language DVD: English
Released DVD: 27 Apr 2009
Production year: 2008
Format DVD
  • Critics' reviews of What Just Happened?

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  • 3 stars out of

    Barry Levinson is not a director known for his down-with-the-kids credentials, and as such has fashioned an... read more on Time Out

    • David Jenkins, 
    • Time Out
  • Most helpful member's review of What Just Happened?

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  • 28 out of 28 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 2 stars [Highly rated reviewer]

    What just happened indeed

    I went along to see What Just Happened, which was probably the reaction of most of the audience. I've thought about it quite a bit and still don't really know what to make of it. I'm not sure at all that the makers knew what kind of film they were making. I thought the tone was all over the place, that the pacing was wildly erratic - in fact I think there's two different films in there trying to get out. I realise what they were trying to do, to make a film that shows someone with an incredibly busy life, full of stresses, trying to cope but for me it didn't work. For example, one of the first things he did was pick his two young kids, from his first wife, and take them to school. We never saw them or his first wife again. There wasn't even a reference to them in the remainder of the film.

    I loved some of the scenes where he was trying to reconnect with his second wife. No spoilers, but there is a film in this alone. It just got cluttered up with ..... the clutter of the film. What was the reason for the manic scenes with Bruce Willis? He was a caricature of himself, as was the Director. The film could have done without them, it would then probably have been regarded as an 'intelligent satire ' on the film industry, instead it seems to be a film that lost it's way and ended up as drama that turned out to be a comedy or a comedy that turned out to be a drama but really is neither.

      • Eyesrsore from Glasgow
  • Most recent members' review of What Just Happened?

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  • 1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

    Rated - 0 stars

    Drivel

    Gave up after 20 minutes as I didn't want to waste 2 hours of my life !!!

      • A customer from Wadebridge
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Rating breakdown

3,961 Member ratings
  • 100
39
  • 90
22
  • 80
169
  • 70
333
  • 60
923
  • 50
647
  • 40
831
  • 30
255
  • 20
518
  • 10
224

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    • "What Just Happened" is 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 ...