America´s Sweethearts (UK)

7 / 10
4 votes cast
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A romantic comedy about true love, happily ever after and other Hollywood endings
Certificate: 12
Running Time: 102 mins
Retail Price: £19.99
Release Date:

Synopsis:
American Sweethearts boasts an unprecedented all-star cast of Julia Roberts (Notting Hill; Erin Brockovich), Catherine Zeta-Jones (Traffic; Entrapment), John Cusack (Serendipity; High Fidelity); Billy Crystal (Analyze This; When Harry Met Sally), and Hank Azaria (Pretty Woman; Heat).
Gwen (Zeta-Jones) and Eddie (John Cusack) are `America`s Sweethearts`, the country`s favourite couple, on-screen and off But when their very public romance turns into a very public break-up, only veteran press agent Lee (Crystal) and Gwen`s assistant, her sister Kiki (Roberts), can help Gwen and Eddie show some much put-upon love while they promote their last film together.
But the press junket is in a resort hotel miles from anywhere, and while Lee and kiki frantically try to keep the media away from the real story - and keep Gwen and Eddie from revealing their secret - Kiki finds something entirely unexpected in this romantic about true love, happily ever after and other Hollywood endings.

Special Features:
Interactive Menus
Scene Access
Deleted Scenes with optional Director`s Commentary
Cross-promotional trailers
Filmographies
Production notes

Video Tracks:
Widescreen Anamorphic 2.35:1

Audio Tracks:
Dolby Digital 5.1 English

Directed By:
Joe Roth

Written By:


Starring:
Seth Green
Stanley Tucci
Christopher Walken
Hank Azaria
Catherine Zeta-Jones
John Cusack
Billy Crystal
Julia Roberts

Casting By:
Junie Lowry-Johnson
Libby Goldstein

Soundtrack By:
James Newton Howard

Director of Photography:
Phedon Papamichael

Editor:
Stephen A. Rotter

Costume Designer:
Ellen Mirojnick
Jeffrey Kurland

Production Designer:
Garreth Stover

Producer:
Samantha Sprecher
Donna Roth
Billy Crystal
Allegra Clegg
Bruce A. Block
Susan Arnold

Executive Producer:
Peter Tolan
Charles Newirth

Distributor:
Columbia / Tristar

Your Opinions and Comments

8 / 10
A nice romantic comedy about life on and off camera. The entire cast is excellent and the locations are well picked.
The video transfer is good. There are no compression signs and the picture looks very nice with well saturated colors.
The DD 5.1 soundtrack is a bit flat, but I guess that`s only appropriate for a romantic comedy. There`s almost no usage of the surrounds.
The menus are still with music.
The extras include a behind the scenes look, 4 deleted scenes with introductions by the director and a music video.
Bottom line - a nice movie to pass 100 minutes with.
posted by Zvi Josef on 6/2/2002 19:23
7 / 10
I found this to be a little disappointing considering the huge potential of the cast. Still this romantic comedy has some nice moments in it, but I didn't think that it was anything special.

In all honesty, I didn't look at any of the extras in any detail, so I'm judging on face value only but it looks like we could do with a few more to me!

Overall, an above average comedy, just a little disappointing considering the potential that it had.
posted by Rich Davies on 19/11/2002 02:41
7 / 10
A huge cast lead this romantic comedy about a couple of married movie stars, who have split up. They were americas ideal on screen couple and everybody loved the pair on screen. Now they have broken up, the movie fans are upset. Along comes Billy Crystal, who works for a movie company. He is hired to get them two back together again no matter what the costs. The movie is not spectacular but does have some fine moments. I especially love the bit where Billy Crystal are talking in code. "Pebbles and Bam-Bam are rocking it"

The picture is very good. Catherine Zeta Jones does look very stunning all throughout. Sharpish and full of excellent colours and detail. The sound is pretty good although there are not really any major sound moments in the movie to make full use of the surrounds.

There are a few decent standard extras nothing to write home about but then again the movie wasnt that spectacular so there was no real need for tons of extras so im content.

Overall the movie offers a fascinating look into the world of movie stars. All the glamour and fake publicity stunts, this did seem very realistic. However, the main plot was a simple one about a man finding his true love after it had been there in his face for sometime. Not entirely unique but the setting of the tale made it an interesting experience. There were some great comedy moments. This is a movie thats well worth seeing although im not convinced its worth owning.
posted by dicanio on 14/6/2003 04:11