America’s Sweethearts
A huge cast Billy Crystal, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Julia Roberts, John Cusack, Stanley Tucci, Christopher Walken, Hank Azaria, and Seth Green star in this romantic comedy co-written and produced by Billy Crystal.
It tells the story of a Hollywood couple Gwen and Eddie Harris (Jones and Cusack) who have dazzled audiences for years with their movies and now are having marriage problems.
She’s shacked up with her lover (Azaria going way over the top here) and he’s in a mental institution for manic depression over their split.
Crystal plays Lee, a studio press agent who is assigned to get the two back together for one last public appearance to promote what may be Eddie and Gwen’s last movie.
But there are problems.
First, the director of the film is holding the film hostage until the press can see it at the press junket.
Second, Eddie and Gwen can’t stand each other.
So Lee enlists the help of Gwen’s sister Kiki, (Roberts) to help convince Gwen to go along with the appearance.
Kiki is somewhat of a Cinderella story she’s recently lost 60 lbs. and is now a gorgeous beauty.
Sparks begin to fly when Eddie and Kiki meet up again after not seeing each other in more than a year.
The problem with “America’s Sweethearts” is with the cast involved, it has the potential to be a really great movie. It settles for just being pretty good.
Unfortunately, it’s obvious Crystal wrote it because he saves all the one-liners for himself.
There are also flashback scenes of Robert’s character to a time when she was fat that just looks like a bad late-night infomercial.
They try to get us to feel sorry for Roberts, but we don’t because hey, she’s Julia Roberts.
If it were my call, I would have chosen Sandra Bullock for the role instead of the overrated Julia.
The film would have been much better if they had taken more shots at the film critics and entertainment writers. They play it relatively safe, though, probably because they don’t want to make too many people upset.
Showing how easily manipulated the press is when given gifts and bribes would have been a nice touch.
In the end, the film resorts to jokes about penile deficiency and sight gags to get laughs. That really is a shame.
Just about all of the actors here are better than the material they are given. One wonders what it was in this average script that drew so many big names.
But regardless, it is still a cute movie, and the film seems to be content with being just that.
EPPLER’S RATING: HHH
Tomb Raider
This is a filmed video game. It’s as simple as that.
Angelina Jolie cops a British accent and a downright distracting stuffed double D bra to play Laura Croft, the hero of the video game series of the same name.
The visuals are sometimes impressive, but the plot completely lacks originality as Croft runs through different tombs battling mummy-like beings until she gets to the main villain of that particular tomb and guns it down.
The character of Croft is a butch girl with a daddy complex fighting against a bunch of men who want to take over the world.
But this is not at all a feminist statement.
The story picks up where the third video game left off with Croft trying to find two split halves of an ancient artifact which, when put together, gives its possessor control over the universe.
Jon Voight goes slumming here as Croft’s dead father who randomly appears to her in visions.
This film really wants to franchise and be “The Mummy,” which was trying really hard to be “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”
So what we have here is a rip-off of a rip-off.
An overly glossy mess with lots of stunts and special effects that add up to nothing more than a video game starring Angelina Jolie.
EPPLER’S RATING: HHH
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