Hollywood has a long and often glorious tradition of cannibalizing itself for material, from 1933’s Going Hollywood right up to this summer’s Tropic Thunder. The lows are usually forgettable, but the highs come on a surprisingly frequent basis. The latter category includes Levinson’s own Wag the Dog, also starring De Niro, as well as Robert Altman’s The Player, also featuring Willis playing himself. It is perhaps the richest subgenre in film—movies about movies.

With a bounty of acting talent, a director with previous success mining similar material and a knowing screenplay from producer Art Linson, What Just Happened would seem to have the ingredients in place for another triumph. After a lively and humorous first act, however, things become tedious and self-indulgent. This is not so much a movie about movies as it is a movie about filmmakers bickering and arguing.

The Details

What Just Happened

Robert De Niro, Bruce Willis, Robin Wright Penn

Directed by Barry Levinson

Rated R

Opens Friday, November 7

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What Just Happened

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De Niro stars as a once-powerful film producer named Ben whose life and career are headed straight to video. As he attends a preview screening of his latest production, Fiercely (a thriller starring Sean Penn, who also appears as himself), he notices the apathetic faces in attendance—at least until the final scene commits the cardinal sin of shooting a dog, prompting some particularly nasty audience responses. His next project isn’t even getting off the ground, as its star (Willis) has shown up overweight and sporting a beard (this segment is a thinly veiled depiction of Linson’s own experience with Alec Baldwin on The Edge). In between, Ben must deal with his troubled teenage daughter (Kristen Stewart) and two ex-wives, one of whom (Wright Penn) he still has feelings for.

This entire setup is presented in a breezy and entertaining manner, but then most of the remaining screen time is spent trying to get Willis to shave and the obstinate director of Fiercely to change its ending, all while Ben is juggling his messy personal life. It’s a series of occasionally amusing vignettes, but ultimately with little point. “A pretty sick joke,” says the voice on the other end of one of Ben’s countless phone calls, “But you still gotta admit it’s pretty funny.”