AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS
SYNOPSIS:
Gwen Harrison (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and Eddie Thomas (John Cusack) are America’s
sweethearts, a movie and real life couple with a string of hits behind them. When they
split – she leaves Eddie for Spanish loverboy Hector (Hank Azaria) on the eve of
their latest film’s release - and the film is held hostage by maverick director Hal
Weidman (Christopher Walken) the studio’s brilliant publicist, Lee Phillips (Billy
Crystal) has to manage the press junket and make the couple appear to be reunited.
Meanwhile, Eddie and Gwen’s sister-cum-PA, Kiki (Julia Roberts) discover a mutual
attraction for each other which jeopardises everything.
You can tell by the first 10 minutes that America’s Sweethearts is a
comedian’s film: Billy Crystal the writer targets everything in sight, from the
successful romantic movies that Gwen and Eddie are supposed to have made (which appear
lame and laughable, a subtle dig perhaps at mainstream audiences) to the more obvious butt
of jokes like studio boss Dave Kingman - a beautifully (un)balanced performance by Stanley
Tucci - and media junketeers. But all the performances are brilliant, and the film’s
tone is an echo of old Hollywood, when studio bosses made decisions based on scripts with
stories and characters that they wanted to see on screen. (And which therefore proved
successful with mainstream audiences.) The classic love triangle is refreshed; the comedic
premise of a warring couple in the midst of a publicity tour is milked for all its
potential, and the stars get just as much of a baking as the journalists. Lee the
publicist is as manipulative and as morally reprehensible as the rest, but it’s a
tribute to Billy Crystal (and since he plays Lee, to his self preservation instincts) that
most people think he is the least immoral character. Hank Azaria almost overdoes Hector
the Latin lover who loves Hector the mostest, but director Joe Roth manages to put him in
context enough to make him part of the crazy, funny, appetising package. There is much
going on in the film, and the central premise is a juicy hook on which it all hangs
beautifully. A well hung film, you might say . . .America’s Sweethearts will have you
believe that everything bad you’ve heard about Hollywood is painfully true. These are
vain and venal people. They say so themselves. And that’s funny.
Andrew L. Urban
A romantic comedy of farcical proportions and a satire that cuttingly reflects the
movie industry, America's Sweethearts is irresistible entertainment. Peter Tolan
(Bedazzled, Analyze This) and Billy Crystal's script is witty and the lines (and the
laughs) just keep coming effortlessly. Crystal is truly in his element; his delivery is as
smooth as a baby's bottom. In fact, there are so many good lines, it is hard to hear them
all first time around. The set up, the characters, the delivery – this satire
Hollywood-style is what Tinsel Town does best. The cast is Hollywood royalty and
everything works. Catherine Zeta-Jones is ravishing as the spoilt brat actress. She pouts,
she preens, she plays the super bitch to perfection, and wins our hearts (probably more
than she should), in the process. Julia Roberts, as her overlooked sister, seems
surprisingly plain next to Zeta-Jones, but delivers warmth as Kiki. Zeta-Jones is so
strong that she - surprisingly - outshines Roberts. John Cusack plays down-and-out
beautifully; he counter-balances the charming, little-boy-lost and big-time loser with
panache. As a killingly funny satire, America's Sweethearts fires on all guns, although in
the romance department it doesn't deliver as effectively, largely due to the fact that the
relationship between Kiki and Eddie isn't properly developed. There should be oodles of
chemistry, and by the time they get together, fireworks should explode. But there is
plenty of business in all the performances – after all, this is the environment in
which all publicity is good publicity. Hank Azaria reprises his divine scene stealing
Agador character from The Birdcage to play Hector, the dubiously endowed Spanish lover
with lithp and attitude. Yes, of course Hector is way beyond credibility, but I'm not
complaining. Plus Christopher Walken as a crazy genius filmmaker is a nice touch.
America's Sweethearts brings big laughs, big time. I laughed until I cried. I want to see
it again!
Louise Keller
Guess what? Everyone in Hollywood is vain! That's the big revelation according to this
muddled misfire of a really great idea from co-producer/co-writer Billy Crystal. He had
something really meaty to bite into here - not things we already know like demanding movie
stars and their all-important public profile, but the seamy world of the agents,
publicists, studio execs and journalists who regulate their profiles. It's a world Crystal
knows well; he's hosted enough Oscar ceremonies to understand the bitchiness behind the
scenes. He adds a lot of inside jokes to the film, from the bag of goodies designed to
entice journos to the junket to the circling studio execs who would let their biggest star
suicide if it would boost the box office (as Stanley Tucci contemplates here). Yet
Crystal's script, based largely on his experiences, is a real toothless tiger. Instead of
going for the throat on the unethical goings-on of those behind the stars, it goes for
standard laughs about the stars' glossy lifestyle and vain insecurities. Almost every
scene ends in a one-liner, and the funniest one - when a doberman takes an interest in
Crystal's crotch - is even repeated at the film's end. The result is as much a revealing
look at Hollywood mechanics as a drive through Beverly Hills. It also proves that not even
four heavyweight A-list actors can rescue a poorly scripted film. Catherine Zeta-Jones,
John Cusack, and Billy Crystal have absolutely no rapport, while world's number one star
Julia Roberts (basically a bit player here) has less chemistry with Cusack than Crystal
has with the doberman. There are some crackerjack jokes, like Crystal's "You lost 60
pounds? That's a whole Backstreet Boy!" and the way lisping Latino Hank Azaria keeps
pronouncing "junket" as "honket." But few of what's intended hits the
mark. Zeta-Jones' demanding starlet isn't bitchy enough to be truly monstrous (didn't she
see Bette Midler in Drowning Mona?) and Roberts' delectable underdog is a role way beneath
her. It consists of smiling painfully and awaiting the inevitable. Mildly entertaining but
instantly forgettable, America's Sweethearts is a talent-heavy misfire.
Shannon J. Harvey
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CRITICAL COUNT
Favourable: 2
Unfavourable: 0
Mixed: 1



Read Jenny Cooney Carrillo's interview with BILLY CRYSTAL
AMERICA’S SWEETHEARTS (M)
(US)
CAST: Julia Roberts, Billy Crystal, Catherine Zeta-Jones, John Cusack, Hank Azaria,
Stanley Tucci, Seth Green, Christopher Walken and Larry King as himself
DIRECTOR: Joe Roth
PRODUCER: Susan Arnold, Billy Crystal, Donna Roth,
SCRIPT: Billy Crystal, Peter Tolan
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Phedon Papamichael
EDITOR: Stephen A. Rotter
MUSIC: James Newton Howard
PRODUCTION DESIGN: Garreth Stover
RUNNING TIME: 102 minutes
AUSTRALIAN DISTRIBUTOR: Col Tristar
AUSTRALIAN RELEASE: October 4, 2001
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