neumu [ cinematronic ]




	America's Sweethearts
	Joe Roth Julia Roberts, Billy Crystal, John Cusack, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Hank Azaria, Christopher Walken 2001 widescreen; pan & scan; French, English subtitles; deleted scenes; theatrical trailers		Despite the top-billed presence of America's real cinema sweetheart, this sugar-puff ball of show-biz satire and wry romance is not a Julia Roberts movie. It's actually a decent ensemble comedy, co-written by one of Roberts' co-stars, jokester Billy Crystal. With its bickering Hollywood superstar couple Eddie Thomas (John Cusack) and Gwen Harrison (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and its quip-heavy assault on the film business, "America's Sweethearts" feels like a modern homage to the 1930s screwball romps of writer/director Preston Sturges. Crystal, who functions as narrator, plays a Hollywood studio publicist whose job is to keep Eddie and Gwen together long enough to tout their final celluloid team-up. And Roberts — predictably endearing as Kiki, Gwen's once-overweight/now-svelte sister and assistant — is the underdog heroine whose unrequited love for Eddie is starting to surface. Hank Azaria, as Gwen's hot-headed Spanish lover, and Christopher Walken, as a maverick director, enhance the mania.