3/5 Worth seeing, but not a keeper.
  by Jeffery C. Lawshe (Seattle, WA United States)
While this movie falls a little short in sheer narrative pleasure, it's still fun to watch Sean Penn and Bruce Willis play themselves larger than life.

If you already feel jaded towards the Hollywood establishment, this film doesn't have a lot to teach you. But as a meditation on the performative, fraudulent nature of power, it's an interesting story. Depending on who he's talking to in the pecking order, De Niro's character--a producer slowly falling from grace--switches from despot to cowering lackey, and De Niro plays his part very well.

So well that it becomes hard to watch. You want the characters to just say something real... to connect like regular human beings.

Bruce Willis carries the show with over-the-top outbursts of drama-queen rage. I think someone would have to be a pretty nice guy in real life to be able to play themselves as such a jerk in a movie.

One oddity: Bruce has a eulogy that includes a quote about how "Hollywood is a place where good men die like dogs." In the DVD trailer, he attributes the quote to his father. In the movie he attributes it to Hunter S. Thompson.

Your job? Spread this net rumor: Hunter S. Thompson was Bruce Willis' father.

2/5 Selling De Niro's face
  by P. Manning (Florida, USA)
I didn't bother renting this one based on the description. It looked a lot like they were just trying to sell a lousy movie by putting De Niros face on the cover. Based on the ratings I'm seeing, they probably were.

5/5 Don't Miss What Just Happened
  by Richard Hine (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001UG3BJK)
Wow. If you only watched movies based on reviews, chances are you have spent a few months avoiding Barry Levinson's latest, WHAT JUST HAPPENED.

What are you missing?

- A great performance from Robert De Niro: That alone should make this movie worth watching for many people. De Niro has been a bit hit-and-miss with his movie choices lately, but as Hollywood producer Ben, De Niro is simply terrific. In ways both obvious and subtle, he manages to convey many layers of emotion as his character tries to bridge the worlds of creativity and commerce--even as he tries to come to terms with all the compromises, mistakes and challenges that have left him with two ex-wives and a lot of bills to pay. The fact that his two current projects are both collapsing around him only adds to the pressure. But, touchingly, the thing he seems to care most about is that his most recent wife (Robin Wright) is reupholstering his favorite (but no longer his) sofa.

- A great insider view of the movie industry: Sure, it's been done before. But I enjoyed this movie more than "The Player" and found it more compelling and fun than "Entourage.". Catherine Keener as the steely, numbers-oriented studio head? Superb. Michael Wincott as the British director who's both a recovering addict and an unyielding creative primadonna? Nailed it. Stanley Tucci as the screenwriter (and romantic rival) whose next movie is about a florist? Fantastic. John Turturro as the agent who's too scared to talk to his high-powered clients. Hilarious. Robin Wright Penn as the ex-wife who wants to move on but never can say goodbye? Heart-achingly believable. Kristin Stewart as the angst-ridden teen who may have an inappropriate lover? You know she can play that role, "Twilight" fans!

- Funny, self-deprecating cameos by Bruce Willis and Sean Penn: These two guys really get into the spirit of the movie. Willis, especially, seems to thrive on playing "Bruce Willis" as a cocky method actor who is willing to put a whole movie at risk rather than shave the bushy beard he's grown as an "artistic choice" for his character.

This is a movie where you have to get over the fact that, when we get to the Cannes Film Festival, Robert De Niro is just a face in the crowd while "Sean Penn" is a real-world movie star. Plus the fact that Sean Penn's real-life wife is the fictional ex-wife of a character played by De Niro. If you get to that point, though, you will probably be enjoying this movie as much as I did, and these things will barely register.

So ignore the reviews. (Except this one) Watch this movie with an open mind. If nothing else, you'll end up appreciating how hard it is for Hollywood to create a movie that leaves you so thoroughly entertained.

3/5 No Wag the Dog
  by Ross P. Hyland (Stanwell Tops, N.S.W. Australia)
This film was worth a look but it's no "Wag The Dog" or "The Player". With this concept and this cast it should have been a classic movie.... but it ended up as only a lightweight unfortunately.

2/5 a good book becomes a weak movie -- ain't that always the way?
  by Michael Giltz
Robert De NIro gives his most appealing, least mannered performance in years. Unfortunately, it's for this lifeless Hollywood satire (based on the fun memoirs of producer Art Linson) that has nothing new to say.