5/5 Perfect condition!
  by Mary Frazier
This movie is in perfect condition. Great movie Thank you so much for getting this to me in such short order.

4/5 Star Packed comedy
  by Jim Gateley (Sunnyvale, CA)
4 of 5 stars for the star-packed comedy America's Sweethears. What a cast of stars: Zeta-Jones, Roberts, Crystal, Arkin, Walken, Cusack. Mostly filmed on location at the Hyatt Lake Las Vegas, this comedy is about two movie stars who were a couple making their last big film. The focus of the movie is the launch of the new film and the benefits ($$) of the two (Cusack & Zeta-Jones) getting back together as America's Sweethearts. To complicate matters ZJ is now dating a stud (Azaria) and Cusack is in love with ZJ's sister (Julia Roberts). Throw in a crazy nutcase movie director (Walken), some slimy PR guys (Arkin, Crystal) and you have funny situations. Well written, well produced and great acting combined for a fun movie. I do recommend this movie!

5/5 I love this film.
  by J. Dykstra (Roswell, NM)
The first time I saw this movie I was disappointed. Ever since, it has been one of my favorite movies. I think it's a movie that has to grow on you. Billy Crystal is hilarious in his role as the studio publicist that has to do outlandish things to keep crazy actors going. The movie has many very funny scenes. I think the best thing about the movie though is the chemistry between Cusack's character and Julia Robert's character. It's sort of a different twist on the theme of the main character finding out that he or she is in love with the best friend or sibling of the person that they thought they were in love with at first. Somehow it works in the context of this movie. This movie is definitely a romantic comedy that requires some suspension of disbelief and it definitely follows some tried and true formulas, but it does it in a way that's just different enough that you feel like you are seeing something fresh. I know this movie got somewhat mediocre reviews when it came out, but I think if you give it a chance, it's a pretty entertaining film.

3/5 messed-up send-up
  by H. Bala (Carson - hey, we have an IKEA store! - CA USA)
Oh, yeah... this one. You'd think, given the caliber of the actors involved, that AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS would've come out a more entertaining picture. But, while it does have its standout moments (some, not many), the movie more than anything feels smug and condescending. So, while I guess I overall enjoyed watching the movie, parts of it leave me cold. If you toil in the Hollywood industry, then you may get more out of this film and also better appreciate all those knowing insider digs. Me, I'm kind of shaking my head at the wasted potential, wondering how two terrific performers like John Cusack and Julia Roberts manage to get caught sleepwalking thru their roles.

America's movie sweethearts are actually estranged actor couple Gwen Harrison (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and Eddie Thomas (John Cusack). They've gone their separate ways but are convinced by their smarmy, conniving press agent Lee Phillips (Billy Crystal) into going on a press junket in the desert to promote their latest picture. The self-absorbed Gwen goes because her cinematic career is on the skids. And Eddie, a neurotic wreck, he goes because he still hopes to reconcile with Gwen, despite a year and a half in therapy (apparently, he tried to kill her).

Lee Phillips, orchestrating and scrambling like mad while he manages his bickering, high maintainance problem couple, is stressed out because he hasn't yet seen the actual movie. He keeps the press junket film critics at bay by contriving an illusion that Gwen and Eddie are still together and also by holding the special film screening in the desert, where the press is easier to control. Oh, and then there's Kiki (Julia Roberts), Gwen's saintly personal assistant and once-fat-but-now-slender sister, who's still carrying a torch for Eddie. And off they all go.

Sheer star power attempts to carry this picture; it's certainly not the story. AMERICA'S SWEETHEART is a lightweight farce and a predictable halfhearted romance, and it fails in its try to recapture the frenetic magic of those old screwball films of the '30s and '40s. I guess the most disappointing thing is that the leads, as likeable as they are, still fail to make their characters warm and sympathetic This just might possibly have been done on purpose. Billy Crystal, who co-wrote the screenplay, seems to have intended for this story to be a snarky exposé on the hypocrisy and silliness of Tinseltown, more so than a winsome romantic comedy, and I'm guessing that this called for a demonstration of how utterly silly and superficial and vain most actors are. Mission accomplished, but I find myself lukewarm to these characters and without inclination to root for anyone. Of them all, I'm leaning towards liking Hank Azaria's character best, because as oily and narcissistic as Gwen's macho boyfriend may be, he still comes off the most honest. Azaria looks like he's having a lot of fun as Hector the Latin lover, and I dig that line Hector says when being interviewed: "I really want to play a character like the Terminator, because I think the Hispanic people are crying out to see a deadly destructive killing machine that they can embrace as their own."

As I've already said, I enjoyed the film more so than not because, when push comes to shove, I do like these actors. But it's a bland sort of enjoyment. AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS really is a case of could've been more, should've been more. It's a very workable premise, with the film starting off promisingly in a series of nice set-ups. But then the film succumbs to generic, cliched storytelling, turning into what it first intended to lampoon. For one thing, I wish the press junket backdrop were mined more in terms of satire and humor. And, as much as I like Julia Roberts, I'm not sure she was right for her part, too bigger than life for the mousy Kiki. Anyway, to add a finishing touch to this Hollywood send-up, the whole thing climaxes shrilly during the screening of Gwen and Eddie's new movie, in which dirty laundry is publicly aired, weewees are disparaged, and Christopher Walken makes a grand entrance. As intimacy and taste and biting wit circle down the drain, giving up the ghost.

3/5 2.5 stars out of 4
  by One-Line Film Reviews (Easton, MD)
The Bottom Line:

America's Sweethearts has a hilarious first 5 minutes and goes quickly downhill from there; it's a forgettable film that misses most of the opportunities inherent in the script for the sake of showing the audience a story it has already seen before.