Rating: 
Summary: Good satire, but fails at comedy.
Review: To call "America's Sweethearts" a satire on the many ills of Hollywood would be a bit of an understatement, while referring to it as a comedy would give it too much credit. The movie toys with the various ways in which Hollywood and its stars manipulate one another. But, despite the premise and the casting of Catherine Zeta-Jones and Julia Roberts, two of Hollywood's biggest actresses, the comedy wears thin too many times, providing for long periods of boredom. The title is in reference to Zeta-Jones's character, actress Gwen Harrison, and her actor husband, Eddie Thomas (John Cusack). They've been in the movie business together for years, making films that are so amazingly trite and shallow, yet the audience can't really tell whether or not this is a play on the monumental amount of romantic comedies Hollywood produces in reality, or just another comedy ploy. And then we discover that they're separated and on the verge of divorce. Gwen has been living with Kiki (Julia Roberts), her sister who waits on her hand and foot, and her Latin lover, Hector (Hank Azaria), who speaks with a severe lisp and is very protective of Gwen. In walks Lee (Billy Crystal), the public relations man from DK Studios, with his own plans of making it look like Gwen and Eddie are back together so that the first showing of their latest and final movie together, "Time Over Time," will go over well, due to a nasty streak of reviews over two previous films in which the two did not star together. So the movie then takes us to Nevada, in the middle of the desert in a hotel that has just been built, where the highest of critics are gathering for the first showing of the movie. One problem: the studio doesn't have the movie, so Lee must keep the eyes of his audience occupied with tribulations between the two stars. What will come to pass is a mixture of people falling in love, others faking it for show and good publicity, and some good but minute laughs for good measure. The cast does surprisingly well with the material, making the most of what little comedy they get. Roberts shines as the girl on the sideline ..., while Zeta-Jones writes the book on how to be a pampered starlet. John Cusack doesn't seem to have a whole lot of chemistry with either actress, but is funny in his own way. Hank Azaria can be funny at times, even though the lisp gets a little old after a while, and Billy Crystal's character is a little too manipulative to be funny at different moments. The satire of the movie is in the right place. Gwen is the ideal model of a self-centered Hollywood actress who wants nothing more than publicity and fame, though can't understand why people would think she is insensitive. Kiki is as loyal a sister as you could ask for, though her awakening in the movie comes a bit too far at the end. Eddie is the most down-to-earth of all of them, while Lee uses the three left, right and sideways to his and the studio's advantage. It's the comedy that's the problem: there's just not enough of it. A satire has to be funny, and it has to make fun of the aspect in question. But the movie runs away from it, in scenes such as one in which Lee runs between two parked limousines to figure out who will be going first as they enter the hotel. The first run is funny, but by the fourth time, you'd wish they would stop whining. There are some genuinely funny moments, side-splitting at times, but other moments, such as a dog sniffing Billy Crystal's regions, seem forced and a bit tired. "America's Sweethearts" knows what it wants to be about, but doesn't know how to get there. I enjoyed the satire, but it was too serious, and comedy is what satire is all about. The cast is pure gold, even if the material is bronze at best. I did laugh, but not as much as I would have liked.
Rating: 
Summary: Billy Crystal loses the common touch
Review: This movie should have been a slam dunk considering the amount of star wattage involved, and it should have been funny considering how many laughs Billy Crystal has given us over the years. It was obvious that the cast thought they were making a funny movie, but that's where the problem arises. Billy Crystal has spent too much time in the rarified air of Hollywood insiders, and has forgotten that the general American public does not view eating pancakes and butter as the kind of personal faiure where hilarity ensues. It is not the snide comments that are so offensive as is the inherent assumption on the movie's part that we accept its judgments on diets and weight as unassailable. When Julia Roberts' character Kiki says she has lost 60 pounds, Crystal reponds "That's a Backstreet Boy!" That line is not funny and makes no sense, yet they were so fond of it that it was used in all the trailers. The problems with the script were compounded by the casting. Julia Roberts plays a mouse who, having dedicated her own life to waiting hand and foot on her more successful sister, comes into her own when she decides to grab her sister's husband for herself. (Sleeping with your sister's husband as an act of self-empowerment should play in Peoria, right?)... So when Kiki puts her foot down, it is without context. There is no progression from mouse to lion, there is only Julia acting like Julia.... The real casting disappointment was the decision to use John Cusack as the love interest. Cusack does not usually hang with this crowd-more content to write and make his own quirky films-and he is too good to stoop to this material. In order to punish him even further, his camera angles were guaranteed to make him look uniformly bad, and he looked like what is apparently something Hollywood lives in fear of: puffy. The wonderful chemistry evidenced between Cusack and Alan Arkin in Grosse Point Blank is missing in action here so that Arkin is wasted entirely. And Hank Azaria as the "passionate Spaniard"? His idea of a Spanish accent is truly an insult to all Spanish speakers everywhere. Christopher Walken is a wonderfully weird actor, but he looks awful and his part is so small it seems that they thought his mere presence would telegraph all they could have said with his character. So a comedy about people who are desperate to look like something they are not turns out to be a movie about things they think are funny, but are not. Symmetry at last.
Rating:
Summary: Worst movie I have ever seen
Review: With the cast in this movie, I was looking forward to seeing it. After it was over, I couldn't believe that Billy Crystal would want to put his name on it. Not only was it humorless, but pointless as well. There were no redeeming qualities in this show, period. The actors seemed to try and do their best, but when the script is terrible, there is only so much they can do. I would recommend not seeing this movie, don't even bother renting it. It was a waste of 101 minutes of my life.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but expected more.
Review: Americas Sweethert's is a good film, but expected more. The film has some very funny moments, especially with Billy Crystal and the dog. The film actually needed to see more of a romace between Kiki and Eddie. The romance is there, but Joe Roth only allows very little of it to show between Kiki and Eddie. Catherine Zeta Jones is good as Kiki's bratty sister, and Julia is great and funny as always. John Cusacks character Eddie seems to love Kiki, but at the same time he seems to want Gwen. For a romantic comedy, the film could have used alot more romance. Hank Azaria and Christopher Walken have very funny charatcers which add alot of comedy to the film. Billy Crystal's character seems like he only wants to break Kiki and Eddie up every time he sees them. Overall, I thought the film was cute, and that's why I liked it. Great funny&perfomances by Julia Roberts,Catherine Zeta Jones,Hank Azaria, and Christopher Walken. Grade B
Rating:
Summary: cute movie - very predictable
Review: was all the leading men in hollywood busy when they made this movie??? John Cusack?!? I liked him in "High Fidelity" but I failed to see the match between him and Julia Roberts. This has some funny moments but overall very predictable. This was a cute movie and I thought Catherine Zeta-Jones was terrific! I'd recommend this as a rental only.
Rating: 
Summary: Catherine Zeta Jones - annoying!
Review: It wasn't one of Julia's best movies, and Catherine Zeta Jones was annoying. She was good at protraying a stuck-up movie star, but very fake the whole entire time and this was annoying. It wasn't the best movie I have ever seen, but it was entertaining the second time that I saw it. I wouldn't pay to see it again though.
Rating:
Summary: Hollywood Heavyweights Grace Lightweight Comedy
Review: Entering the summer blockbuster ring against pterodactyls, talking house pets and Harvard-educated blondes, America's Sweethearts' knockout punch has to be its star power: the reigning king and queen of Romantic Comedy, John Cusack and Julia Roberts, and rising star Catherine Zeta-Jones form the central cast. In addition to co-writing the screenplay, veteran comedian and Hollywood powerhouse Billy Crystal fills a supporting role as an aging publicist who'll do almost anything to promote a movie, and Christopher Walken adds edgy charisma as a reclusive director. Crystal's irreverent screenplay (co-written by Peter Tolan) is a behind-the-scenes look at the often hilarious, but always a bit disturbing, antics of movie industry insiders. The plot is simple: When movie stars Eddie (Cusack) and Gwen's (Zeta-Jones) marriage goes to pot, their on-screen chemistry also fizzles. While working to save Eddie and Gwen's latest project from disaster, Gwen's unassuming sister/assistant Kiki (Roberts) falls for Eddie, creating a love triangle with the two actors. 'Sweethearts' has shades of 'Singin' in the Rain,' one of the great Hollywood-insider classics: A charismatic but self-absorbed leading man, an utterly unsympathetic leading lady, and the all-American beauty who steals our hearts. Yet in the end, 'Sweethearts' falls short of the elegance and wit of its predecessor. The high point of 'Sweethearts' (in the absence of great musical numbers) is the subtle and cynical deadpan peppering Crystal's dialogue. The darts are flying at the industry, at the lifestyle of today's top actors, and at the frenzied press coverage that fuels it all. Who better to deliver the barbs than Cusack, the quintessential angst-ridden protagonist, and of course Crystal himself? The joy of this film is sitting back and watching actors at the top of their game having a great time making a picture, yet also taking a hard look at what makes it all possible. The romance ends up being a bit stale, but the comedy and the stars do an adequate job of keeping us engaged and entertained.
Rating:
Summary: Went not expecting much
Review: The whole thing was terrible. The one thing that made the money spent worth while was the brillant acting by Christopher Walken. 7 minutes of pure enjoyment. If you must see anything this bad I would suggest waiting for it to be shown on channel 9 Saturday movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Choppy, but cute and funny
Review: Though not smooth, this movie is funny and likeable. John Cusack, Julia Roberts, and Catherine Zeta-Jones are all great.
Rating:
Summary: Better than expected.....
Review: Despite the fact that it still remains a chick flick, America's Sweethearts pleasantly surprized me. Not only are there two beautiful leading ladies, but the movie itself is also quite funny. If there are guys out there looking for a movie to impress there girl by, this one is an excellent choice.
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