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What Just Happened? (2008)

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Top Critics

Average Rating: 5.8/10
Reviews Counted: 138
Fresh: 71 | Rotten: 67

What Just Happened has some inspired comic moments, but this inside-baseball take on Hollywood lacks satirical bite.

Average Rating: 5.9/10
Critic Reviews: 30
Fresh: 13 | Rotten: 17

What Just Happened has some inspired comic moments, but this inside-baseball take on Hollywood lacks satirical bite.

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Average Rating: 2.6/5
User Ratings: 11,859

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Movie Info

Inspired by the personal memoirs of Hollywood producer Art Linson, Barry Levinson's fictional showbiz comedy stars Robert De Niro as a struggling movie producer who has just suffered through his second divorce, and slowly finds his soul being ground up in the machinations of the Hollywood machine. Ben (De Niro) is an aging producer whose career was already on a downward turn when his personal life went straight into the toilet. Not only is Ben juggling two ex-wives and a daughter who seems to

R, 1 hr. 53 min.

Drama, Comedy

Directed By: Barry Levinson

Written By: Art Linson

In Theaters: Jan 19, 2008 Wide

On DVD: Feb 24, 2009

Box Office:$1.0M

Magnolia Pictures

In some ways, What Just Happened feels like an attempt to, if not make amends for moviemaking myopia, at least show how easily the contagion takes hold.

October 31, 2008 Full Review Source: Denver Post

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Lisa Kennedy

Denver Post

Top Critic

What Just Happened? is just a plain clumsy movie.

October 31, 2008 Full Review Source: Detroit News

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Tom Long

Detroit News

Top Critic

What Just Happened? has already happened and, to everyone but Levinson, that shouldn't be surprising.

October 31, 2008 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail

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Rick Groen

Globe and Mail

Top Critic

The sharpest Hollywood satire since The Player.

October 31, 2008 Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle

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Amy Biancolli

Houston Chronicle

Top Critic

You'd probably need a veteran Hollywood psychiatrist to explain Tinseltown's fascination with its own muck.

October 31, 2008 Full Review Source: Toronto Star

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Peter Howell

Toronto Star

Top Critic

In What Just Happened, we get a loving tribute to the movie business filled with disdain for the ethics of the people who work in the business.

October 30, 2008 Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune

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Colin Covert

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Top Critic

Precise, smart, and very funny in its specifics but rather clumsy and obvious when it comes to the big picture.

August 15, 2011 Full Review Source: East Bay Express

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Kelly Vance

East Bay Express

Worth seeing, especially for people interested in the inner workings of the Hollywood machine, but don't go in expecting a laugh a minute.

August 30, 2009 Full Review Source: Washington Times

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Sonny Bunch

Washington Times Source: Washington Times

It's a pungent film about Hollywood power and a useful manual for young producers on how to stay upright in Hollywood or at least, how to lose your soul with grace.

May 24, 2009 Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald

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Paul Byrnes

Sydney Morning Herald

It's not Bowfinger but it's well worth the ticket.

May 22, 2009 Full Review Source: MovieTime, ABC Radio National

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Julie Rigg

MovieTime, ABC Radio National

In an era where old rope such as Fast & Furious can strangle the box office, any reminder of Hollywood's clueless cynicism is more than welcome.

May 22, 2009 Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph (Australia)

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Leigh Paatsch

Daily Telegraph (Australia)

What Just Happened, despite an air of crisis, feels sluggish and plodding.

May 21, 2009 Full Review Source: The Age (Australia)

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Philippa Hawker

The Age (Australia)

An insider's Hollywood story, Barry Levinson's film lacks the bite of other admired "movie movies", such as The Player, or way back, The Bad and the Beautiful.

May 21, 2009 Full Review Source: Courier Mail (Australia)

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Des Partridge

Courier Mail (Australia)

I don't think it's particularly funny and I think that's the problem with the film. I think it wants to be funny.

May 20, 2009 Full Review Source: At the Movies (Australia)

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David Stratton

At the Movies (Australia)

It's a shame that the film doesn't ever really take off into the stratosphere, because so many of the ingredients are funny and revealing. But this is just another case where it was a better read than a film.

May 20, 2009 Full Review Source: At the Movies (Australia)

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Margaret Pomeranz

At the Movies (Australia)

A welcome return to form from Robert De Niro, who has not been so proactively reactive on-screen for many, many years.

May 20, 2009 Full Review Source: Herald Sun (Australia)

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Leigh Paatsch

Herald Sun (Australia)

It's also mercifully free of the kind of phony pretensions to subversion and irreverence that weighed down, say, Robert Altman's The Player.

May 20, 2009 Full Review Source: FILMINK (Australia)

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Mark Demetrius

FILMINK (Australia)

The film must have great resonance in Hollywood, which loves nothing more than to see its innards hung out in proud dirty linen fashion, but the nebulous structure and meandering storytelling leaves the rest of us a little dissatisfied.

May 16, 2009 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile

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Andrew L. Urban

Urban Cinefile

Based on the Art Linson autobiography, this half-baked insider parody tries hard to be madcap.

April 23, 2009 Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix

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Peter Keough

Boston Phoenix

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March 22, 2009 Full Review Source: Movies for the Masses

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Joseph Proimakis

Movies for the Masses

More understated than sidesplitting, this biting satire of showbiz offers an amusing enough inside peek at what life might be like in Tinseltown to remain recommended, its mostly inside industry jokes notwithstanding.

March 3, 2009 Full Review Source: EURWeb

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Kam Williams

EURWeb

February 27, 2009 Full Review Source: NewsBlaze

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Kam Williams

NewsBlaze

Like the perpetual insider crap shoot and big bucks blown on questionable movie fare, Levinson is willing to take his chances on that backroom and behind the scenes pathological reality show drama known as Hollywood.

February 27, 2009 Full Review Source: NewsBlaze

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Prairie Miller

NewsBlaze

There are a few other clever pokes at Hollywood, but many of the jokes, including a subplot about a Sean Penn thriller that needs fixing, falls flat.

February 27, 2009 Full Review Source: JoBlo's Movie Emporium

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Chris Bumbray

JoBlo's Movie Emporium

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Audience Reviews for What Just Happened?

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What Just Happened? Is a unique comedy that has plenty of laughs. The comedy displayed on screen is off the wall, and may not appeal to a large audience, but this film manages to be a lot of fun. I thought the plot, though at times was well thought out, and the story was interesting, and not your average comedy.

September 1, 2011