America’s Sweethearts

Though infused with a slick, admittedly fast-paced sensibility, America’s Sweethearts nevertheless comes off as an egregiously bland piece of work that ultimately makes certain sitcoms look deep by comparison. Screenwriters Billy Crystal and Peter Tolan’s tendency to emphasize punchlines over characters results in a frenetic yet entirely hollow atmosphere, although, to be fair, some of the actors sporadically do manage to rise above the undeniably lackluster material. John Cusack and Catherine Zeta-Jones star as Eddie and Gwen, a legendary Hollywood couple whose break-up sent Eddie to a mental hospital and Gwen into the arms of an arrogant Spaniard (Hank Azaria’s Hector). It’s only with the impending release of their final film that Eddie and Gwen are reluctantly forced to team up one more time, as legendary publicist Lee Phillips (Crystal) whips together a lavish press junket in the middle of the desert. There’s little doubt that America’s Sweethearts‘ pervadingly innocuous modus operandi slowly-but-surely ensures that a distinctly stagnant vibe creeps into the proceedings, with the film’s downright disastrous finale, in which Eddie and Gwen’s film is revealed to be an avant-garde meta mess, stretches the limits of credibility far, far beyond the breaking point. And while Zeta-Jones is as awful here as one might’ve anticipated, the affable work of the film’s other actors, including co-star Julia Roberts, proves instrumental in cementing America’s Sweethearts‘ place as a periodically watchable, entirely inoffensive, and thoroughly middle-of-the-road effort.

** out of ****