America’s Sweethearts

Fired movie studio publicist (Billy Crystal) will get his job back if he can reunite a married but separated megastar couple (John Cusack and Catherine Zeta-Jones) during a press junket for their last film. Other cardboard characters in this patchy romantic comedy include the vain starlet’s swaggering Spanish lover (Hank Azaria), her once frumpy and now svelte sister (Julia Roberts packing 60 extra pounds in the flashbacks), and a maverick hippie-auteur (Christopher Walken) who refuses to unveil the movie before the promotional shindig. The weightless, rambling spoof here of stardom and Hollywood-tainted relationships is actually less entertaining than today’s real backstage swill. Written by Analyze This collaborators Crystal and Peter Tolan, and directed by former Disney executive Joe Roth (Revenge of the Nerds II).