America's Sweethearts

GlendaJean

July 23, 2001

Return

Because it was ungodly hot and humid, because I like John Cusack and Billy Crystal, because it was there ... I saw America's Sweethearts yesterday.

There ought to be a rule in Hollywood that the industry cannot effectively satirize itself. The line between satire and reality is so infinitely small.

Not much humor in this movie. An ensemble act more than a star treatment for Julia Roberts. Christopher Walken in a long gray wig is wasted in a cameo as the demented director of a movie not yet seen by Stanley Tucci, the studio head. Cusack and Catherine Zeta-Jones-Douglas whatever are former married couple who starred in several popular movies, but now they are separated and the fans are having a hard time liking them. Hank Azaria has the Castillian accent from hell and plays Zeta-Jones new lover.

Amost no heat between anybody in this movie. Sadly, Billy Crystal isn't very funny. At one point, he tells a joke to a waitress. She walks off with no reaction. "No laugh, no tip," he says. In his frustration, he sounded like he could have been talking about the movie.