What Just Happened
Directed by Barry Levinson. Written by Art Linson. With Robert De Niro, Robin Wright Penn, Catherine Keener, Bruce Willis, Stanley Tucci, Sean Penn, Michael Wincott, and John Turturro. (R)
What Just Happened, based on writer Art Linson's tell-all book of the same name, calls to mind the old adage about sausage—you don't want to see how it's made. The sausage factory here is Hollywood, where millions of dollars and the livelihoods of hundreds of crew members can depend on a beard.
The beard in question belongs to Bruce Willis—playing "Bruce Willis the Actor" rather than himself—who has signed on to appear in an action picture backed by the seasoned producer Ben (Robert De Niro). When Willis shows up on the set with not only the beard but a very non-action-hero paunch to boot, it's up to Ben to make sure he shaves and gets into shape before the camera rolls—otherwise, the studio will kill the picture. Fans of film gossip may hear something familiar in the scenario. When filming was set to begin on the David Mamet film The Edge, star Alec Baldwin appeared with a full-on Grizzly Adams, and it fell to Linson—as a producer—to talk the petulant actor into shaving.
It's that insider knowledge that gives What Just Happened much of its limited appeal; it often feels like a near-documentary look at the behind-the-scenes shenanigans that keep Hollywood rolling. It's a world of its own, and any attempt to set a story inside it simply has to come from someone inside the walls.
In addition to the beard dilemma, Ben is also dealing with the fallout from a disastrous test-screening of a new Sean Penn film by a bad-boy British director—it turns out that audiences don't like it when you shoot a cute dog in the head, and studio chief Lou (Catherine Keener, who doesn't need a man's name to be tough) is demanding a re-cut before the film debuts at Cannes. At the same time, he's struggling through a decidedly West Coast kind of separation with his ex-wife Kelly (Robin Wright Penn). "You're going to feel so good about being apart," says their therapist, "that you're never going to want to get back together."
As Ben, De Niro is better than he's been in some time; he's also, perhaps tellingly, listed as a producer of the film. With the requisite stubble and ever-present Bluetooth earpiece, he's never at rest; there's always another call to take, another flare-up to extinguish, another detail to pin down. In a role that is more often played for villainy, he makes us almost pity the poor producer—a marionette pulled at from every direction. Compare his performance to John Turturro's caricatured turn as a nebbishy agent.
What keeps the film from being better is its unwillingness to really bare its fangs. In a town so full of drama, surely there are worse things going on than what is on display here (comparisons to The Player, Robert Altman's acidic Hollywood story, do this film no favors). Perhaps that is a result of director Barry Levinson's milder temperament, or of Linson's pragmatic propriety. Or maybe Hollywood just wouldn't make that film.
Role Models
Directed by David Wain. Written by Paul Rudd, David Wain, Ken Marino, and Timothy Dowling. With Seann William Scott, Paul Rudd, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bobb'e J. Thompson, Elizabeth Banks, and Jane Lynch. (R)
Comedy is a strange thing. Resistant to explanation, difficult to describe, it's perhaps best captured by Potter Stewart's line about obscenity. To paraphrase that Supreme Court justice: you know it when you see it. You see it in Role Models, a foul-mouthed bit of hilarity from television writer David Wain (Stella, Wainy Days).
Paul Rudd (Knocked Up) and Seann William Scott (American Pie) star as Danny and Wheeler, salesmen for a nuclear-green energy drink named Minotaur. They travel the middle school circuit, getting kids hooked early under the guise of a "Say No to Drugs" program. Danny is the guy in the suit and tie, with a live-in girlfriend at home. Wheeler wears a giant Minotaur outfit, sleeps around, and exhorts kids to "taste the beast!"
After 10 years, the job has taken a toll on Danny, and as he enters his mid-30s he has become the kind of nitpicking cynic who snaps at people for pronouncing ASAP "a-sap." When his girlfriend Beth dumps him, he snaps, and a Minotaur-fueled truck mishap results in his and Wheeler's being sent to the Big Brothers-like Sturdy Wings to serve out a community-service sentence.
There they meet their "Littles": Augie, an awkward teenager whose everyday attire usually includes a cape; and Ronnie, a young kid who likes to work blue—he spends art class drawing obscene pictures of Beyonc?. After a rocky start, Ronnie and Wheeler bond over a shared mammary obsession and a rock history lesson explicating the true meaning of the KISS song "Love Gun." In the meantime, Danny begins to get sucked into LAIRE, a live action role-playing game that consumes much of Augie's time. It's an easy place to make jokes, but that doesn't make them any less funny.
On the surface, there isn't much to Role Models that separates it from much of its competition—it's got the same love of juvenilia that so much comedy has today, and a pat happy ending. What makes it work so well is its steady pacing and the personality of its actors. Especially good is Seann William Scott, who is one of those actors who, by sheer force of charisma, is able to be a complete lout and remain likeable. He's the outrageous friend you love to see for a few hours at a time, until he wears you out.
But it's not just him; Jane Lynch, a veteran of Christopher Guest's mockumentaries, shines as the director of Sturdy Wings, a one-time addict who constantly references her sordid past; and even the smaller roles of the LAIRE players are filled with good performances. It may be just another raunchy comedy to many, but there's no denying that it's done well.
Jadup and Boel
Directed by Rainer Simon. Written by Rainer Simon, based on the novel by Paul Kanut Schifer. With Kurt Bewe, Katrin Knappe, Gudrun Ritter, Timo Jakob, and Michael Gwisdek. (NR)
In East German director Rainer Simon's film Jadup and Boel (completed in 1981 but banned by the government until 1988), the people of a small German town have done their best to put away the past—especially that part of the past that deals with World War II and its aftermath. It was decades ago, after all, and they have other things to think about now, such as the opening of their area's first supermarket.
Yet history has a way of making itself known, and when a building collapses in town, an uncovered artifact brings the story of those lost years bubbling to the surface. Hidden in the wreckage of Frau Martin's house is a book, signed by Jadup—now the town's respectable mayor—and inscribed to Boel, a young refugee who settled in the town after the war only to mysteriously disappear soon after amid rumors of a rape.
The discovery jars Jadup into remembering a youth where he didn't always act in ways he wishes he had, and spurs him to look at his current life with a newly critical eye. In the meantime, a visiting tourist who calls himself a historian begins picking at the town's seams, raising questions some would rather leave unanswered. Was it, as many claimed, a Russian soldier who assaulted Boel, or was it someone much more familiar? Or did she leave because of the questions that followed? "We killed her with our interrogations," says Jadup.
Simon crafts a thoughtful film—even the headlamps playing along a wall seem to be searching for something—that seems to call for a frankness in discussion and an acceptance of a sometimes dark history, however painful it may be. As such, it makes one wonder if our own ongoing wars will give rise to similar stories in the decades to come.
Jadup and Boel screens Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. at Mt. Holyoke College; director Rainer Simon will be present to discuss the film.
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Also this week: Amherst Cinema brings two special events to the area. First comes a Youth Film Showcase on Saturday, Nov. 15. The second annual event features short works in film and video that deal with themes of cultural diversity, social justice and environmental awareness. All the films are the work of Western Massachusetts middle and high school students.
On Tuesday, Nov. 18, they play host to Barry Hershey (The Empty Mirror), who comes to town to discuss his film Casting About. Hershey has written a feature that calls for a number of female roles, and while he has yet to make that film, the casting process for it led to this documentary. Featuring dozens of mostly unknown actresses, Casting About edits down over 70 hours of footage to offer a rarely seen look inside the process of filmmaking, and the balance of power between not only director and performer, but between men and women.
Jack Brown can be reached at cinemadope@gmail.com.
