rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 2001
Directed by Joe Roth; produced by Susan Arnold, Billy Crystal, Donna Arkoff Roth; written by Billy Crystal, Peter Tolan
Starring Julia Roberts, Catherine Zeta-Jones, John Cusack, Billy Crystal, Stanley Tucci, Seth Green, Hank Azaria, Christopher Walken
Below you will find a temporary review for this film. The real (better, more complete) review will be online very soon.
A romantic story written by the very funny Billy Crystal starring Julia
Roberts, Catherine Zeta-Jones, John Cusack and again Billy Crystal, and with
supporting characters played by Stanley Tucci, Seth Green, Hank Azaria and
Christopher Walken. What can go wrong? Apparently more than you would think.
Let me start with what I did like. Julia Roberts who plays Julia Roberts,
but this time named Kiki, fits a movie like this mostly because it doesn't
really matter what she does. She is lovely anyway, here no exception. Her
sister Gwen is played by Catherine Zeta-Jones and she does the best she can
with the character that she is given. John Cusack, an actor who makes all
his movies work, fails here. Again, not because he does a bad job, there is
just nothing to work with. Crystal also does the best he can do and his
character is one that gets a few laughs.
The story is a mess. Eddie Thomas (Cusack) and Gwen were Hollywood's
favorite couple but now they have split up. Eddie is heartbroken and Gwen
has a new lover named Hector (Hank Azaria). The problem is that Gwen and
Eddie's latest movie has not been released yet. Actually, the film is
missing, and to hide that fact a guy named Lee (Billy Crystal) must pretend
that Eddie and Gwen are back together again. It is obvious that Eddie should
not love Gwen but her sister Kiki, and when something is obvious in a movie
like this... Right.
Their latest movie is missing because the director Hal Weidmann (Christopher
Walken) keeps it with him until certain things are arranged. It is a good
thing that Walken is in this movie to make things a little better. He has
done a lot of small supporting roles the last couple of years and he steals
every scene he is in. He alone makes some parts of this movie, and may be
therefore the entire movie, watchable. Azaria is also pretty funny but a
little overdone.
Although the leading the actors all do the best they can, it is not enough
to be really satisfied. It is not a punishment to watch funny people like
Crystal, great actors like Walken and Cusack, and beautiful people like
Roberts and Zeta-Jones and therefore I kind of liked it, I guess.