Rating: 
Summary: No surprises in this oddly cast romantic comedy.
Review: The plot is typical romantic comedy fare and pretty much delivers exactly what you expect. Catherine Zeta Jones and John Cusak play an estranged Hollywood couple whose careers have suffered since their split. They have a new movie coming out, and Julia Roberts, Jones sister/personal assistant/abused slave, and Billy Crystal, their amoral publicist, scheme to present them as a happy couple during a press junket for the movie. Julia's character recently lost a lot of weigh and became gorgeous. She also has long had a secret thing for her sister's husband. Gosh, I wonder what could possibly happen.OK, the genre is what it is, and it has a place in everyone's viewing library. This one, unfortunately, is a near miss. First, Cusak is wasted. We know he can play a great romantic lead, but he's got to have more edge than this role gives him. This is like watching wet white bread. Roberts is also surprisingly subdued. The biggest surprise is Catherine Zeta Jones, a celebrity that I always assumed was 80% public relations creation and 20% talent. Here, she's clearly having a great time and she brings some much needed zing to her role as a self-obsessed starlet. She obviously has a comedic gift, and I hope she can find other roles that use it. Crystal, of course, is brilliant. This is one movie where I would definately recommend getting the DVD instead of the video. Unlike a lot of DVDs where the producers simply tack on some odds and ends from the cutting room floor and call it "special features," here the special features are both amusing and offer insight into the movie-making process. The director introduces several scenes from the movie and thoughtfully explains why each was cut. The deleted scene of Hank Aziz in the bathtub was the funniest part of the movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Just an average movie
Review: When you compare America's Sweethearts to it's potential, it comes out as not a very good movie. It was a big budget major studio release in the summer with a star-studded cast. While this movie doesn't live up to the hype of a summer blockbuster, it is still quite amusing and entertaining. The problem with the movie is its casting. Julia Roberts plays the sister to the famous, selfish star (Catherite Zeta Jones Douglas.) It is hard to believe Roberts as an unknown sister who isn't really famous, especially since she is probably the most famous female star today, and after seeing her in Notting Hill where she plays a famous movie star. I don't think John Cusack makes a good leading man. His character has to many flaws that make it hard to believe that he can just turn his life around and make sane decisions when it comes to falling in love. Still, this movie has its good points. Christopher Walken, Billy Crystal and Hank Azaria are all funny in their roles. The story is good and the ending is believable, but the characters could have used some work. Some say this movie was a Hollywood satire. I don't think it is because I don't know enough about Hollywood to make a judgement. But does have many amusing moments, just not enough to make it a quality summer blockbuster.
Rating: 
Summary: Cusack is America's Sweetheart
Review: This is Cusack at his best . . . quirky, new age, obsessive over Catherine Zeta-Jones, who is the most loveable self-absorbed prima donna ever to grace a screen. I'm mad about this movie, it is probably the one that pushed me over the Cusack edge.
Rating:
Summary: Grade "A" Summer-Time Diversion
Review: What are the essential ingredients that a successful romantic comedy must have? Hmmmm...let's see...1-Julia Roberts...2-A lanky love interest for Julia...3-Madcap humor with some quick wit and clever one liners. Well, America's Sweethearts lives up to all of these prerequisites, and passes with a good mark. Plus, you get to see Julia Roberts in a fat suit, which is, I must say, worth the price of admission. Julia holds the movie together as the only character that the audience can relate to in its strange and selfish Hollywood landscape. She is beautiful and funny, and she was perfectly cast. John Cusack is great as Julia's love interest/good friend and Catherine Zeta-Jones is excellent as a self-centered, abusive actress that was once married to him. But it's Julia's movie, 100%. It seems as if her comedic timing has matured and grown (a la "My Best Friends Wedding") and her charm is still there in full force. The only person that comes close to defeating Julia's ownership of this film is Hank Azaria, Catherine Zeta-Jones new boyfriend in the film. His over-done latino accent is hilarious (yet respectful) and he plays every scene over the top and to the extreme. He's as silly has he can be, and that makes it so that he steals most of the scenes that he's in. It's still Julia's movie, though, so if you are a fan of hers like I am, you will most likely enjoy this pleasant comedy.
Rating:
Summary: America's Sweethearts - *** 1/2 Stars
Review: The on-again, off-again relationship between America's favorite screen couple, Gwen Harrison (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and Eddie Thomas (John Cusack), has been stuck stubbornly in the off position ever since their real-life relationship soured and Eddie tried to run Gwen over with a motorcycle--through the window of a Chinese restaurant, no less. But now, their film for the legendary, eccentric and reclusive director Hal Weidmann (wonderfully under-performed by Christopher Walken as a Stanley Kubrick-type) is close to finally being complete--although no one has actually seen it. Weidmann, who has holed himself up with his editing equipment in the cabin formerly inhabited by the Unabomber, refuses to relinquish the footage until he is satisfied with his masterpiece. The flummoxed studio, meanwhile, desperate for a huge PR boost for the film, convinces press-junket guru Lee Phillips (Billy Crystal) to lure the acrimonious stars back together to promote the film. He succeeds in getting them to an isolated resort in the Nevada desert, where a cadre of ethically-challenged entertainment journalists are plied with fancy gifts and free liquor in the hopes that they will write nice things about a movie they may never actually get to see. But Eddie and Gwen provide enough fireworks to guarantee Phillips all the press he can handle and more. Julia Roberts is charming as usual as Kiki Harrison, Gwen's sister and abused personal assistant. As an actress, she manages to transcend the flat look of the film and the parade of stars around her; as a character, she anchors the plot's soapy tone and inside-Hollywood banter with a desperate romanticism and steady confidence that is played nicely just under the madness of the rest of the film. Sadly, Joe Roth, a former journeyman director who took the past decade off to run Fox and Disney, makes his helming return with bland, generic results. Save for a few crackling wisecracks from Billy Crystal, and some moments of delicious is-she-acting-or-is-it-real insanity from Catherine Zeta-Jones, the fine cast sleepwalks through this film. Even the usually energetic and fascinating John Cusack lumbers through the material cluelessly. This is entertainment of the most innocuous and inconsequential sort--the kind that leaves you with the feeling you get right after eating a huge piece of cherry cheesecake on an empty stomach.
Rating:
Summary: A plesant night in.
Review: Billy Crystal proves that he is at least as good a writer as he is an actor with Americc's sweethearts. The casting is well done, although you can almost claim Zeta Jones is typecasting considering what happened with Michael Douglas only without the kids involved. Crystal's character is the perfect cynical foil. You love to both love and hate this guy. Cusack is a lot of fun. Hank Azara as always is a hoot, I think he is the most underrated comic actor in the country. Alan Arkan shines in his small role as does Christopher Walken who is the funniest character in the whole movie, I would love to see the picture he made. It is a great plot twist. (Why does he always play nuts?) Julia Roberts is ok but nothing to write home about. Am I the only one who thought Julia Roberts looks better with the phoney weight? The writing makes this movie, the acting complements it. Watch this movie, you will complement it too.
Rating:
Summary: Cute and entertaining
Review: Catherine Zeta-Jones plays the star actress with a diva attitude, Julia Roberts is her ever-so-kind and helpful sister and personal assistant, and John Cusack is the love-sick estranged husband of Catherine Zeta-Jones'. Although they have been living apart for a year, are going to be divorced, and try to avoid each other, Zeta-Jones and Cusack both star in a movie which the movie's producer is anxious to earn big bucks from. Billy Cristal is the PR guy hired by the movie's producer to encourage (let's say, "dupe") Zeta-Jones and Cusack into making a star appearance at the film's premiere and he also orchestrates a series of "scandals" for the reporters and tabloids, just to make more money (as they say, no publicity is bad publicity, or something like that.) In the process, Zeta-Jones and Cusack end up in all sorts of funny, embarassing circumstances which they both try very desperately to extricate themselves from. Cusack is not at his best, but he's entertaining. Roberts is looking good (and I wonder if she did really put on all that weight for this movie, cos it looks so real!). Zeta-Jones is stunning and ever-so-convincing in these diva roles. I wouldn't say this is a great movie... but its a good one for renting for those nights in (with lots of crisps and popcorn at the side!). It does have enough unpredictability and gags in it to keep you chuckling, and the nice little happy ending will make you go "Awwww...." with a smile :)
Rating: 
Summary: Star Studded Folly
Review: How did someone take a light-hearted but cute premise, big name stars, and turn it into such a lame and inane film? The talent is obviously there, but the movie simply doesn't work. Alternating between over-the-top (which I think was the point) and deadly dull (which probably wasn't), this film stalls and fizzles.
Rating:
Summary: Won't Win Any Oscars
Review: This movie wasn't amazing, but it was a cute story. It was interesting to think about everything that goes into publicizing a movie, and what the actors are like in real life. Crystal's character was very funny. See it at some point if you don't have anything better to do, but don't spend too much on it.
Rating: 
Summary: Formula Romance That Doesn't Work
Review: America's Sweethearts tries to be a romantic comedy using a canned formula, but it doesn't succeed on any level. It's hardly funny and certainly not very romantic. The plot is a foray into Hollywood's self-loathing that is not light-hearted enough to work. The characters are not very likable, which is an essential part of any romance. The attempts at humor are rarely funny. Billy Crystal happens to be a talented actor (such as he was in Princess Bride) and he deserves a better medium than this.
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