Pop Smart - Sundance Reviews: What Just Happened?

WHAT JUST HAPPENED?

(United States, 2008, 107 minutes, color, 35 mm)

Directed by Barry Levinson, written by Art Linson

Starring Robert DeNiro, Bruce Willis, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener, Stanley Tucci and John Turturro

I have this theory about Robert De Niro, and it goes something like this: Use only in case of emergency. That’s not to say Bobby can’t do any film he wants. He deserves that option. But when it comes to films like What Just Happened?, it’s like Michael Jordan joining the Harlem Globetrotters.

It’s fun to see him there, but you just can’t get over feeling that he needs to be playing at a higher level.

That may be my biggest criticism of What Just Happened?. In a film stacked with a marvelous cast that lives up — or in Bruce Willis’ case, surpasses — expectations, De Niro assumes the role of captain for a ship that runs just fine on its own.