film: review

> AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS (2001)
A funny look at the spoiled stars of Hollywood that is surprisingly sophomoric at times.

By John C. Lyons
Film Critic

Starring: Julia Roberts, Catherine Zeta-Jones, John Cusack, and Billy Crystal

Directed by: Joe Roth

Written by: Billy Crystal and Peter Tolan

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Our Rating: 7 out of 10

America's Sweethearts takes a humorous look at the spoiled lives of those superstar celebrities that we all love to gawk at and gossip about. (I, of course, would never be guilty of this!) John Cusack and Catherine Zeta-Jones (Eddie and Gwen) are America's favorite couple in tinseltown. Both are products of the lives they lead, and both are completely messed up because of them. When Eddie catches Gwen cheating on him with another man (Hank Azaria), he goes nuts and has to be placed in some spiritual rehab camp. You know, one of those places celebrities go to get back in touch with god and usually end up worse off when they return to society. Gwen is so blinded by the limelight she is left with no concept of reality and acts like a spoiled brat unless she is in front of a camera. And then you have Julia Roberts and Billy Crystal (Kiki and Lee), who are in charge of pampering these stars and trying to make them look like normal people long enough to promote their new film!

Another stellar cast comes together in what could have been a great comedy, but which fell short of the mark, thanks to someone's brilliant idea to add some cheap laughs into the script. You have some films that are full of cheap laughs and "toilet humor". Some examples would be films like American Pie or Dude, Where's My Car? And I loved both of these, BUT they are in a much different league and directed to a much different audience than America's Sweethearts. When you see the film, you will understand the scenes I am talking about, mainly the scenes with the dog jokes. They are just uncalled for and totally stick out from the rest of the film, because they do not fit. It is as if someone thought the film wasn't funny enough so they thought, people like to see animals do funny things in a movie, let's add some scenes with a dog - that'll knock 'em dead! Well, I would like to knock the person dead who wrote in these scenes. I hope it's not Billy Crystal; he's pretty funny, sometimes.

So overall, the film did make me laugh, and it did so often. Those of us who spend time watching shows like E! News Daily and reading magazines like Entertainment Weekly can find humor in a film that depicts celebrities one way in front of the camera and in the opposite way off-screen. The cast was perfect for the portrayal, and even though the ending was a bit predictable it still kept me interested, at least until they had to add another stupid animal joke in at the end. I know I am beating a dead horse here, but if they had left 3 or 4 scenes on the editing room floor this film would have held much more credibility for me.

I saw this film, with some difficulty, at the Tinseltown theaters on upper Peach Street in Erie.

PROs: Cast and premise

CONs: Stupid animal jokes poorly placed, for cheap laughs, really piss me off

(01-0801)

related links:

America's Sweethearts - official site