What Just Happened?

Director: Barry Levinson
Writer: Art Linson (based on his book "What Just Happened: Bitter Hollywood Tales from the Front Line.")
Starring: Robert De Niro, Catherine Keener, Robin Wright Penn, Sean Penn, Michael Wincott, John Turturro, Stanley Tucci, Kristen Stewart and Bruce Willis

It's easy to see why, given its Hollywood insider subject matter, critics have bent backwards to contrast What Just Happened? to Robert Altman's masterpiece, The Player. The reason it's probably an unfair comparison is that it seems Levinson's pic, based on two weeks in the life of film producer Art Linson, strives to hit laugh marks rather than satirical subtleties. And, while there are more than a few laugh-out-loud moments in this film - thanks not only to De Niro, Keener and Stanley Tucci but also (as always) to John Turturro, to Bruce Willis in a hirsute cameo, and to the mightily missed Michael Wincott in a rare and wickedly funny performance - the film as a whole kind of sort of feels like four episodes of "Entourage" back to back.

Because of HBO, Altman, Blake Edwards and others, we are so familiar with this material now that it would take something with a mighty insight to break new ground - and, while Linson and Levinson may have begun their endeavor prior to Vincent Chase, Ari Gold, Johnny Drama and the gang heading to Cannes with their own crazy director, the fact of the matter is that the HBO comedy beat this content to the box-office.