What Just Happened? - B+ (AFI Dallas Film Festival)

Rated R, 107 minutes.

Robert De Niro in Dallas makes for a good movie day for Lawyer. At 1:00pm Friday afternoon, De Niro, Director Barry Levinson, Producer/Writer Art Linson and Producer Todd Wagner all attended the screening of their new film What Just Happened? at the vintage Inwood Theater and conducted an extensive post-screening Q & A. My bride was gracious enough to go early and get in line to assure close seats, and she didn't disappoint. As we settled into the third row of the theater, I spotted the fabled Kumar Pallana (aka Kumar, Mr. Little Jeans and Pagoda) taking his seat (more on that later).

Click below for pictures of De Niro, Lawyer, Kumar and a review of the film.

This comedy portrays a week in the life of Ben (De Niro), a major Hollywood producer that moves from crisis to crisis, both professional and personal. The tone of the film is very reminiscent of another De Niro/Levinson collaboration, Wag the Dog, but this film thankfully lacks the liberal undercurrent that drags down Wag. Lots of insider references and producer talk, but never too much to cut into the film's broad appeal.

On the personal front, Ben is trying to stay connected to his 3 kids from 2 different ex-wives, and trying to get back with his most recent ex-wife (played expertly by Robin Wright). He can't or won't stop working long enough to actually make headway on any of these relationships, so they flounder around the whole film. Professionally, he is trying to manage crises in 2 films. The first is the terrible ending (shooting a lovable dog) to a film that the crazy director won't change and the second is the fat, bearded star (Bruce Willis) of a film about to begin filming. Willis is excellent in his portrayal as the bizarre, violent star that won't shave his hideous beard out of 'artistic integrity.' Catherine Keener is the soulless exec demanding the altered ending in the first film, and she nails her role. Quality bit players include John Turturro as a weasly agent and Stanley Tucci as De Niro's competition for Wright's love.

The aforementioned bride didn't care much for it, but I really liked De Niro's character as he tries to work through so many difficult situations, but fails to place any special importance on personal issues, except to the extent they affect him selfishly. This was a better Hollywood skewer than For Your Consideration. There are several funny lines and situations, but also a larger portrait of a man frittering his life away without accomplishing anything of consequence. Wag The Dog + Entourage + For Your Consideration + Collateral = What Just Happened?

Once the credits rolled, the gang walked down and waited in the wings to be introduced by slightly pompous AFI artistic director Michael Caine. Having those three (Levinson, De Niro, and Linson) onstage in Dallas at a Q & A is a big 'get' for the city and the festival. We were about 15 feet away during the 45 minute session, which saw some decent questions and some terrible questions. De Niro was slow to warm up, but brought the house down with a funny story involving a cannonball. Questioners kept trying to get him to talk about his process and whether he has a hard time getting out of character after a wrap, and his answer was basically....not much prep, not hard to get out of character. He almost seemed derisive of actors that claim otherwise. De Niro was the instigator of the project after reading Linson's book of the same name. Linson, a big time producer (check his IMDB, linked to above) had some interesting stories and seemed the most at ease in the format. After the Q & A, I got oh so close to De Niro and the others. All in all a very cool experience to get up close and personal with one of film's greatest actors (not to mention Levinson). Below is my Travis Bickle moment with De Niro and Levinson.

On the way out we watched the crowd watch De Niro and Levinson make their way to the generic black SUV, and then set about to find Kumar. Once we did, he couldn't have been nicer, posing for a photo, talking for a second, and then saying, "Here, let me give you my card." As a Bottle Rocket/Rushmore/Tenenbaums aficionado, this is one of my favorite photos and a fitting end to a great experience: