What just happened?

In theaters Friday: Duplicity, I Love You, Man, Knowing

New on DVD and Blu-ray: Elegy, Punisher: War Zone, Twilight

Who would have thought 30, even 20 years ago, that Robert De Niro would consistently be one of the better comedic actors on film? Years after Meet the Parents and Analyze This, De Niro shows he still has some funny chops in What Just Happened as an aging movie producer loaded down with drama from all angles: His ex-wife, his current wife, his daughter, and two films. One stars Sean Penn and is in its final stages but faces serious editing issues including an extremely ill-advised dog shooting sequence at the climax of the picture. The other stars Bruce Willis who is holding up production because he refuses to shave his thick mountain man’s beard for the role. Willis’ wardrobe-destroying tantrum is one of the hilariously awkward highlights of the movie that takes place over the course of two weeks in De Niro’s life.

What Just Happened proves that in Hollywood, unlike, say outer space, everyone can hear you scream. The problem then with Barry Levinson’s adaptation of producer/director Art Linson’s confessional novel What Just Happened? Bitter Hollywood Tales from the Front Line, is that it can’t live up to the promising tag line. Because here’s the deal. Sure Hollywood-set movies like What Just Happened remind us that there is an entire arena, a quick and unforgiving bloodbath really, that is going on behind the scenes while everyday people come and go from the movieplex or rent DVDs or read gossip trash about celebs. But whereas Wall Street effectively dissected the other arena that is high stakes stock trading, the one raging out of control while most of us sit back and hope our retirement funds grow steadily, or as 2009 has gone so far, not dwindled too much, it turns out Hollywood just isn’t as interesting as money. Just don’t tell Hollywood. But it’s true. Just check the shrinking Nielson Ratings for the Oscars the last five years. Hollywood may be all about itself, but it turns out most of America just isn’t.

And where America’s interest in the machinery of Hollywood ends, so does interest in the film. It’s hard to really invest emotionally in a guy who, no matter how stressful the set was that day, can always drive his luxury convertible home to his mansion to sulk about it. And even though De Niro is great, that’s a challenge that can only be overcome by the script, and it just isn’t. Levinson does throw in some snazzy documentary style shots (think Soderbergh’s Traffic), and De Niro’s occasional voiceover never grates, but What Just Happened ends up being too empty-hearted for it’s own good. Hollywood is a cutthroat town, so if you’re going to make a film about it, you’ve got to find ways to add some soul.