AMERICA’S SWEETHEARTS - FUNNY, BUT NOT MUCH MORE

America’s Sweethearts, from Sony Pictures and director Joe Roth, is a
romantic comedy about the nasty ending to a beloved Hollywood marriage and
an unexpected romance that develops in the aftermath.

Gwen Harrison (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and Eddie Thomas (John Cusack) are a
contemporary version of Bogie and Bacall, that is until Gwen goes “Meg Ryan”
on Eddie and drops him for Hector (Hank Azaria, in a very funny role). And
now the estranged couple, who can’t stand to be in the same room together,
must reunite to promote their last film, in hopes of saving Gwen’s declining
career. But while Eddie is pining over the loss of Gwen, he suddenly begins
noticing Gwen’s sister, Kiki (Julia Roberts), who has recently dropped sixty
pounds.

Romantic comedies are tricky. The story must develop two engaging
characters-characters we like, characters with a certain chemistry between
them, characters who, we hope, will ultimately get together. Meanwhile, the
story also needs one or two people the audience can thoroughly
dislike-characters who, although they
themselves are engaging, stand in the way of the would-be lovers. There
must also be a lot of situational comedy and funny dialogue. A bit of
slapstick is fine, but, like makeup, too much slapstick can be a turn-off.
And then the story itself must build enough drama into this tempest to keep
things interesting.

America’s Sweethearts meets some of these requirements, but it falls short
in other areas.

First and foremost, the film is often quite funny. That is no surprise
since it was co-written by Billy Crystal, along with Peter Tolan (Analyze
This). The film has a healthy supply of hysterical one-liners,
the type of zingers Crystal normally tosses out to an Academy Awards
audience. Furthermore, the dialogue, especially Hank Azaria’s and Crystal’s
dialogue, is consistently funny. This comedic reservoir is enough to
satisfy many of you who are thirsting for a good laugh. (At one point,
Crystal comments about one character’s weight loss: “Sixty pounds? That’s
a Back Street Boy.”)

But, in my opinion, there are too many artificial gags, i.e. gimmicks that
are specifically designed to make us laugh, while having very little to do
with the story. When a guard dog attacks Crystal’s private area, we
can laugh and groan at the discomfort he experiences. But a few scenes
later, when John Cusack falls into a cactus, thereby impaling his private
area, we begin to recognize a gimmick. Such gimmicks are a fairly common
occurrence here. Sure they are funny, but they stick out
in this movie like Rudolph’s nose.

As far as romance goes, I liked Kiki well enough, but I never really got to
know Eddie. Consequently, I never really cared whether or not Eddie and
Kiki became a couple. There seemed to be some chemistry
there, but the story was ineffective in making me believe their developing
relationship was real. (Which, of course, it isn’t!) And I had an even
harder time believing Eddie and Gwen were ever a couple.

Zeta-Jones and Azaria, along with Stanley Tucci, make good villains, and the
film uses them and Crystal to capably explore the inherently phony side of
the film promotion game. The movie has a good deal of Hollywood insider
jabs, such as the gun-for-hire spiritual guru (Alan Arkin), the whacko
mad-scientist director (Christopher Walken), the profit-hungry studio
executive, the undesirable film critic, and the
beautiful actress who has no real persona, except for her Joan Crawford
similarities. Some of these work and some don’t work at all.

There are also plenty of awkward moments. The first ten minutes of this
film are hard to endure, and the film’s climax seemed promising at first,
but then suddenly crashed and burned.

But, for me, the bottom line is that this film made me laugh just enough to
recommend it. (It is a close call, however.) And I certainly wouldn’t
pre-order the DVD just yet.

America’s Sweethearts is rated PG-13, for language and some crude and sexual
humor.

RATING B minus © 2001. Jim Chastain II