CINEMA: What Just Happened?

This in-joke about the film industry, and Hollywood in particular, has so many cameos by so many famous faces, that if you blink you’ll probably miss one.

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It’s a tale of egos, bitchiness, in-fighting and point-scoring and Robert De Niro relishes every moment he is onscreen as producer Art Linson who finds himself right royally shafted by Brit rock ‘n’ roll director Jeremy (a fabulous Keith Richards caricature by Michael Wincott). Having seen Jeremy’s ‘arty’ version of his film, the head of the studio (a seriously fierce Catherine Keener) wants changes to be made – especially the ending – before it is to be shown at Cannes. However, Jeremy has other ideas and no matter how much pressure, cajoling and bribes Linson offers, getting him to budge is going to be a problem. And it’s not the only headache Linson has; another film he is producing is threatening to run late because star Bruce Willis (playing Bruce Willis) is refusing to shave off his bushy beard and his own agent (John Turturro) is scared to death of him. So Linson’s career goes from rocky to downright disastrous in the space of two weeks.

Everyone involved in this, Berry Levinson’s latest slice of ensemble film-making, looks like they are having a whale of a time and the jokes come thick and fast. Curiously though, the film never really becomes laugh-out-loud funny, it is simply mildly amusing. This may be because the humour lacks vitriol, or that Hollywood is a sitting duck as far as poking fun at it is concerned. Its excesses are ridiculous, and the audience and Hollywood itself both know it.      Dee Pilgrim