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America's Sweethearts

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America's Sweethearts
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJoe Roth
Written by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyPhedon Papamichael Jr.
Edited byStephen A. Rotter
Music byJames Newton Howard
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • July 20, 2001 (2001-07-20)
Running time
103 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$64.4 million[2]
Box office$138.2 million[3]

America's Sweethearts is a 2001 American romantic comedy film directed by Joe Roth and written by Billy Crystal and Peter Tolan. It stars Julia Roberts, Billy Crystal, John Cusack and Catherine Zeta-Jones, with Hank Azaria, Stanley Tucci, Seth Green, Alan Arkin and Christopher Walken in smaller roles.

Plot

Film publicist Lee Phillips is tasked with promoting a film featuring a husband-wife acting team, Gwen Harrison and Eddie Thomas. His job is complicated by the fact that the eccentric director of the film, Hal Weidmann, refuses to show anyone a cut of the film, demanding the first viewing take place at a press junket. To promote the film and to save his job, Lee decides to focus on the two stars: Gwen and Eddie, once known as "America's Sweethearts". Unfortunately, they are now going through an ugly split. Gwen had an affair with her co-star Hector Gorgonzolas, who she now lives with, driving Eddie to an emotional breakdown. His actions after their split led Gwen to take out a restraining order against Eddie, and he is now living at a New Age retreat. Lee decides that his best chance to promote the film is to convince the press that the couple has reunited.

Lee enlists the help of Gwen's sister and personal assistant, Kiki, to convince Gwen to come to the junket. Gwen's career and public image have been severely tarnished by her broken marriage, and the pair play on Gwen's ego by telling her she will look better to the press and her fans if she attends (and she will be able to serve Eddie with divorce papers in a neutral setting). Lee then bribes Eddie's spiritual guide to convince Eddie he is well enough to leave the retreat.

As the junket begins, tensions rise quickly between Eddie and Gwen. While they are frequently at each other's throats, Lee plants stories to convince the press that they are in the process of reconciling. Gwen encourages Kiki to be her go-between with Eddie, and as they spend more time together they begin to develop strong feelings for each other. Hector, having seen the fake stories, believes that Eddie is trying to win back Gwen and they have a public confrontation in the hotel restaurant, ending with Eddie getting knocked out. A sympathetic Kiki cares for Eddie, and they spend the night together. The following morning Kiki becomes enraged after Eddie drops everything to talk to Gwen when she asks to see him, and refuses to admit to being in any other relationships. He later admits to Lee that he's in love with Kiki and has always liked her for the selfless and kind person she is, but believes it wouldn't matter because he lost his only chance. He also admitted he was never happy with Gwen. Feeling remorse for his part in the drama, Lee encourages him to tell Kiki and end his marriage to Gwen. Meanwhile, Weidmann arrives with the finished film.

When the film is shown, the press, cast and crew discover that Weidmann junked the script for Time Over Time and made a "reality movie" instead. The footage, mostly shot with hidden cameras and without the actors' knowledge, shows Gwen as self-centered, conniving and manipulative, while Eddie is a decent man who becomes paranoid as he begins to suspect that his wife is having an affair. The cast and crew—particularly Gwen—are offended by the direction that Weidmann went with. Confronting him, Weidmann admits it was all his plans to humiliate Gwen and ruin her career for an earlier incident on set, while reviving Eddie's own. Enraged, Gwen announces she will sue Weidmann for both humiliating her and invasion of privacy, along with the studio for not preventing his actions. Eddie is the only cast member pleased with Weidmann's direction and wants to work with him again. Gwen's problems continue to compound when an angry Hector calls her out for both humiliating and insulting him in the film, and the director's daughter Leaf comes to his defense, revealing that she also had an affair with Hector.

Humiliated by Hector's actions, Gwen tries to salvage the situation by announcing that she is reconciling with Eddie. Disillusioned with Gwen, Eddie announces that he is finally through with Gwen, and declares his love for Kiki. She reciprocates and stands up to Gwen for the first time. Kiki is fired when she reveals dirty secrets about Gwen's personal life that no one else except her knows and that she's tired of putting her sister's career over her own personal life. After the junket Gwen admits to the press that she and Eddie are through, claiming she was having a reaction to medication. She tries to claim that she loves Hector and he is well-endowed However, Hector doesn't believe her and despite being angered over her humiliating him, defends his case. Kiki and Eddie prepare to leave the hotel together. Lee tells Eddie and Kiki that because of the praise from the press, the studio is forced to release the reality movie. Moments after they leave, Lee gets jumped on by Gwen's dog.

Cast

Julia Roberts' niece, Emma Roberts, makes an uncredited appearance as the young girl in the purple T-shirt.

Release

Box office

America's Sweethearts opened on July 20, 2001 and earned $30,181,877 in its opening weekend, ranking second behind Jurassic Park III ($50,771,645).[4] By the end of its run, the film had grossed $93,607,673 in the domestic box office and $44,583,755 overseas for a worldwide total of $138,191,428. Based on a $46 million budget, the film was a box office success.[3] Filming took place at Lake Las Vegas.

Critical response

Despite being a box office success, the film holds a 32% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes. The site's consensus states: "Despite its famous cast, the movie lacks sympathetic characters and is only funny in spurts."[5] On Metacritic, the film holds a 44 out of 100 rating based on 32 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[6] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[7]

References

  1. ^ "AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS (12)". British Board of Film Classification. August 6, 2001. Retrieved July 13, 2015.
  2. ^ "'Gigli's' Real Price Tag — Or, How Studios Lie About Budgets". The Wrap.
  3. ^ a b "America's Sweethearts (2001)". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. October 22, 2001. Retrieved July 13, 2015.
  4. ^ "Weekend Box Office Results for July 20-22, 2001". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. July 23, 2001. Retrieved July 13, 2015.
  5. ^ "America's Sweethearts". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
  6. ^ "America's Sweethearts". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 13, 2015.
  7. ^ "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com.
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