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America's Sweethearts
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Wikipedia article
'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, 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 'Time Over Time', an upcoming movie featuring beloved husband-and-wife stars Gwen Harrison and Eddie Thomas, who have made countless popular films together. His job is complicated by the film's eccentric director Hal Weidmann, who refuses to show anyone the film until its premiere at a press junket. Worse, Gwen and Eddie, once "America's Sweethearts", are going through an ugly divorce. Gwen's career has been on a downward slide since she stopped making movies with Eddie. Her affair with co-star Hector, who she now lives with, drives Eddie to an emotional breakdown; Eddie's actions lead Gwen to file a restraining order against him, and he moves to a New Age retreat. Lee decides his best chance to promote the film is to convince the press the couple have reunited.
Lee enlists the help of Gwen's sister and personal assistant, Kiki, and they persuade Gwen that her tarnished career and public image will benefit if she attends the junket, where she will also be able to serve Eddie divorce papers. Lee bribes Eddie's spiritual guide to convince Eddie he is well enough to attend.
At the junket, while Eddie and Gwen are at each other's throats, Lee plants stories to convince the press the couple are reconciling. Gwen encourages Kiki to be her go-between with Eddie while she's dealing with Lee. Gwen and Eddie meet at night in Gwen's car to discuss how to handle the junket. Eddie's assistant takes a photo which is leaked to the press with the story they seem to be getting together again.
Angered by the stories circulating that Gwen and Eddie are reuniting, Hector arrives at the junket and confronts Eddie, ultimately knocking him out. As Kiki tends to Eddie, they admit their feelings for each other and have sex. However, in the morning, he and Kiki are having breakfast when Gwen calls and he leaves to meet with Gwen to discuss their marriage and potential interview to throw the press off. This ends up hurting Kiki who leaves before Eddie sees her and becomes furious when she hears Eddie tell Gwen he isn't seeing anyone. She confronts him and tells him she can't pursue a relationship with him because she doesn't believe he'll ever get over Gwen. Downstairs, Lee tells Kiki not to be quick to judge Eddie as he can see Eddie has feelings for her.
Eddie has an epiphany while going to the hotel roof to think (causing a panic among the press below that he's about to commit suicide) and Hector encourages the attempt. Gwen is thoroughly humiliated by this and confronts him. She warns Hector against it because she's trying to maintain the image she and Eddie are reconciling to the press. On the roof, Eddie tells Lee that he's in love with Kiki and believes that he's lost his chance with her since he came here. Lee realizes his mistake, tells Eddie to go after Kiki and end his marriage to Gwen. Weidmann then arrives by helicopter with the finished film.
The screening begins, and the press, cast, and crew discover that Weidmann abandoned the script and made a "reality movie" instead. The footage, mostly shot with hidden cameras and without the actors' knowledge, shows Gwen pursuing an affair with Hector and expressing no remorse, even gloating about it, to Kiki, who is still overweight and timid. Eddie is shown becoming angry about Gwen's clear infidelity, but otherwise appears sympathetic. The film also shows studio's owner, Dave Kingman, being insulted by Weidmann and mocked by his assistant behind his back. Hector is seen taking to the reality film very well and he's heard laughing at Kingman's humiliation. That is until he hears Gwen insulting him behind his back about the size of his penis and humiliating him. The film portrays Eddie and Kiki in a favorable light, while Gwen is portrayed as an antagonist for her affair with Hector.
The cast and crew particularly Gwen and Kingman are offended and confront Weidman. Eddie appears pleased at how he was portrayed and suggests working together again. Weidmann agrees and he reveals this was his plan to humiliate Gwen for an incident she caused on set regarding his direction in the film. Enraged, she announces she will sue him for embarrassing her and invading her privacy, along with Kingman Studios for having not prevented this. Kiki appears surprised, but not angered by the portrayal of her sister. She is also pleased in how the film portrayed her in a favorable light. Hector is thoroughly humiliated and angrily confronts Gwen for her comments. Even Weidmann's daughter, Leaf, comes to Hector's defense, reveals their affair and pointing out how small-minded Gwen is.
Humiliated, Gwen tries to salvage the situation by announcing she is reconciling with Eddie. He sees past her lies, asserts he is finally through with her, and declares his love for Kiki. She reciprocates and stands up to Gwen for the first time. Kiki reveals dirty secrets about Gwen that no one else knew except her and points out that she is tired of putting her personal life on hold. Gwen retaliates by coldly firing first, before calming down and declaring she only wants Kiki's happiness so as you appear favourable in front of the press.
Outside, Gwen confesses to the press that she and Eddie are through and is in love with Hector. She then claims that she's on medication that makes her behave erratically and adding that he is very well-endowed. However, no one believes Gwen and her relationship with Hector is seen disintegrating in front of them.
Kiki and Eddie prepare to leave together, making plans to travel and pursue their relationship. Lee arrives to tell them that against all odds, the press love the movie and Kingman Studios are forced to release the film, despite Gwen's threats for a lawsuit.
Cast
* Julia Roberts as Kathleen "Kiki" Harrison
* Billy Crystal as Lee Phillips
* Catherine Zeta-Jones as Gwen Harrison
* John Cusack as Eddie Thomas
* Hank Azaria as Hector Gorzongolas
* Stanley Tucci as Dave Kingman
* Christopher Walken as Hal Weidmann
* Alan Arkin as Wellness guide
* Seth Green as Danny Wax
* Scot Zeller as Davis
* Larry King as himself
* Steve Pink as Limo driver
* Rainn Wilson as Dave O'Hanlon
* Eric Balfour as Security guard
* Marty Belafsky as Security guard
* Keri Lynn Pratt as Leaf Weidmann
* Maria Canals as Adinah
* Byron Allen as Himself
* Max Charles as Security Guard
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). 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. 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 from 146 critics. The site's consensus states: "Despite its famous cast, the movie lacks sympathetic characters and is only funny in spurts." On Metacritic, the film holds a 44 out of 100 rating based on 32 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale. Gustavo Arellano in his writing 'Ask a Mexican!' identified Azaria's character Hector as an example of the Latin lover stereotype.References
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