07/18/01: Okay, Drew, stay far away from "America's Sweethearts"

Posted By: Aron


It has three groin scenes, one of which involves John Cusack, and as I know how much you hate groin scenes (from your "TSAM" rumblings), I'd hate for you to come to hate one of your favorite actors just because he sunk that low as well.

Overall, I thought it was one of the better recent chick flicks (though not quite on "Bridget Jones" level), and it had a few good laughs toward the beginning and end (the middle is kinda muddled). The billing is all wrong, though -- Cusack should be first. Roberts is at best second in importance and possibly as low as fourth, but, of course, her name sells, so she's listed first. Cusack's "High Fidelity" co-star Zeta-Jones does a good job... playing herself (actually there's a pretty good dig in there about her relationship with Michael Douglas, because she claims some imaginary actor is "too old" for her). Crystal's best line is unfortunately in the trailer (about the Backstreet Boy). Seth Green's new "professional" look made him seem completely out of place. And Hank Azaria's attempt at a Spanish accent was as annoying as it was funny. But Cusack was almost always on the mark and made this film work for me (and I'm not a big Cusack fan). Christopher Walken, who was cool as hell as usual, wasn't in the movie enough to really comment on him.

Ms. Roberts... well, first of all, she's Zeta-Jones' sister in this movie. COME ON! They couldn't even be HALF sisters! Her nose could eat Zeta-Jones' for lunch! Okay, as for her performance, I've never been impressed with anything she's done in any romance/romantic comedies, and this one's no different. Even in "Erin Brockovich" (although her best performance without doubt, undeserving of an Oscar), she didn't do much with her accent. No matter what they do with her hair or her makeup or her outfits, she just always seems like the same person to me.

I think I do understand her popularity (she's most definitely the most bankable female star in the world). A "Pretty Woman" she is not -- she's at best "plain," and most of her fans are female and they find her to be rather unintimidating because of her "normal" appearance. Compare her to Zeta-Jones (who is probably a better actress but I haven't seen her in enough to declare that for sure), a woman most men would bite their arms off to get a date with her. She'll probably never gain the popularity or receive the respect of Julia Roberts because she's just too damn hot! She was born to be famous. I suspect most women look at Roberts and say, "Hey, if she can become a movie star, why can't I?"

Anyway, this movie is obviously going to make a ton of money because it has a LOT of big names in it, but if you ask me, the supposed biggest name is the least important factor of the movie's quality.


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