America’s Sweethearts(2001)

Plot Summary

• Veteran publicist Lee Phillips (Billy Crystal) is fired from his position at a major film studio. Studio head Dave Kingman (Stanley Tucci) later invites him back for a private screening of Time Over Time, a new time travel thriller starring Gwen Harrison (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and Eddie Thomas (John Cusack). Eddie and Gwen were a beloved husband-and-wife team dubbed "America's Sweethearts". Eddie and Gwen have starred in many romantic movies together and the audience loves them as an on-screen couple. They did 6 movies together which made over a $100 million at the box office. Their marriage fell apart when Gwen had an affair with her co-star Hector (Hank Azaria), causing Eddie to suffer a mental breakdown and check into a remote New Age wellness retreat. Eddie is traumatized by the fact that Gwen takes Hector to all the places that were their favorites when they were a couple. Eddie has been locked up in there for 6.5 months, and has been separated from Gwen for over a year and a half.When Lee arrives, Kingman reveals he has nothing to screen: the movie's director, Hal Weidmann (Christopher Walken), is refusing to release the completed film, insisting on premiering it at the upcoming press junket. Weidmann is a 3-time Oscar winning director, and hence cannot be pressured into doing what Kingman wants. Kingman is desperate to get hold of it, as the studio has recently suffered a string of flops (and hasn't had a hit in over 2 years) and Time Over Time is likely the couple's last film together. Kingman has already invested $86 million into the movie and wants it to be a hit to recover his costs. Unsure when, or even if, the film will arrive, Kingman begs Lee to promote it at the junket by convincing the press that Eddie and Gwen are back together, promising to restore Lee's job if he succeeds. Lee recruits rookie publicist Danny (Seth Green) to assist him. They move the event from Four Seasons hotel to the new Hyatt opening in the middle of the desert, with nothing around for several miles. The whole press junket is designed to keep the press entertained and away from the thought of actually watching the movie and reviewing it.Gwen is also under pressure as she knows that her last 2 movies which she did without Eddie, crashed and burned at the box office. Lee visits Gwen, who now resides with Hector, to persuade her to attend the junket. Kathleen "Kiki" Harrison (Julia Roberts), Gwen's sister and personal assistant, convinces her that a junket appearance will help her floundering career and public image. Kiki is overshadowed by Gwen and is treated by her like dirt. Gwen is livid whenever Kiki gets even a little bit of attention from anyone. Kiki was recently overweight and has lost 60 pounds. Hector invites himself to the junket over Eddie's protests. At the wellness retreat, Lee bribes its spiritual guru (Alan Arkin) with a luxury car to convince a reluctant Eddie to face Gwen.At the junket, Gwen cozies up to Eddie for the press, while behind the scenes their interactions remain tense. Eddie goes over to spy on Gwen at her cottage and ends up falling on a cactus. While removing the thorns, he is caught on camera, and it looks like he was masturbating. Lee makes sure that the tape is released to the media for publicity. Eddie pines for her initially but soon tires of her duplicitous nature. Gwen uses Kiki as her go-between with Eddie, unaware she has feelings for him. Kiki remembers that one night after Gwen and Eddie broke up, he got drunk and kissed Kiki. While Kiki remembers the incident fondly, Eddie simply believes that he took advantage of Kiki and views her as a good friend. To distract the press until the film arrives, Lee and Danny plant clues that Eddie and Gwen have reconciled. After Lee leaks a misleading photo of them to the media, Hector shows up and confronts Eddie, leading to a fist fight that ends when Hector knocks him out with a serving tray. Kingman is thrilled with the publicity, but a guilt-ridden Lee starts to question his tactics.Kiki helps Eddie to his room, where they give into their growing attraction and have sex. However, at Gwen's cottage the next morning, Eddie tells Gwen he is "not technically" seeing anyone, causing Kiki to storm off in disgust. Eddie goes after Kiki, who lambastes him for his inability to move on from Gwen. Kiki later laments to Lee about a lifetime of coming second to Gwen, while Eddie has an epiphany and realizes Kiki is who he truly wants. Lee, deducing that Eddie and Kiki are in love, encourages him not to give up, but just then, Weidmann arrives in a helicopter to deliver the film.At the screening, Weidmann shocks everyone by revealing that he abandoned the original script and used hidden camera footage, without the actors' knowledge, to create a "reality movie" instead. The new film follows Gwen's affair with Hector and Eddie's resulting mental decline; highlights include Gwen's demanding behavior on set, Kingman being insulted by his assistant, and Gwen mocking Hector's penis size. Gwen and Kingman confront Weidmann, who defends his artistic vision, while Hector assures the crowd that he is well-endowed (which Weidmann's daughter is happy to confirm). Desperate, Gwen announces that she and Eddie are getting back together, but he rebuffs her and publicly declares his love for Kiki. Kiki decides to stop putting her sister's desires ahead of her own, and a humiliated Gwen fires her and flounces off. Kiki and Eddie then kiss as the audience applauds.In the aftermath, Weidmann's movie becomes a hit, and Lee resumes his studio job to promote it. Gwen admits to the press that the reconciliation was a lie, blaming her erratic behavior on pain medication before departing with Hector. Eddie and Kiki decide to pursue a relationship, and with Lee's blessing, they leave together to travel.

Storyline

• In the midst of a nasty public breakup of married movie stars, a studio publicist scrambles to put a cap on the escalating situation as the couple's latest film has found its only print kidnapped by the director. — MonkeyKingMA America's favorite couple, in movies as well as in real life, has broken up: Gwen has fallen in love with Latin actor Hector, Eddie can't take it no more and has taken quite some time off in the lush gardens of a leading wellness guru. But there is a problem: The latest movie of Gwen & Eddie ("Time over Time") is being held hostage by its director Hal Weidmann. His only request is that it is shown to the press first, not even producer and studio boss David Kingman may take a look at it. Kingman now entrusts PR wizard Lee Philips, whom he just had fired, to organize a press junket that none of the journalists will ever forget - just to distract the press from the fact that the film itself won't be shown at all. Therefore, Lee somehow has to bring Gwen and Eddie back together, at least for that one weekend, in a lonely hotel resort in the Nevada desert. Not quite everything works out the way Lee wanted it to, since Gwen's sister and assistant Kiki also has a mind of her own. — Julian Reischl <julianreischl@mac.com> After they've broken up, a married movie star couple still has to go out and promote the movie they made together while they were in love, even though they now hate each other. To keep the junket from falling apart when the print of their film doesn't show up, the film's publicist tries to divert attention by concocting the story of the couple's reunion, that everything's still hunky-dory between them... when in fact, the actor is actually in love with his wife's formerly fat assistant, and the actress has found a new beau named Hector. — <Laffz00@aol.com> Gwen and Eddie were at one time Hollywood's premier couple on and off the screen. But during the filming of their latest movie, Gwen took up with a Latin guy she met on the set. She and Eddie have since split up. Now their movie is ready to be shown but the director will only first show it at the press junket. But the studio boss, concerned of what the movie will be, instructs Lee his P.R. man to handle to junket and to try and distract the press from asking about the movie by making them think that Gwen and Eddie are back together. Only problem is that he just fired Lee, but after giving in to Lee's demands he agrees. Lee enlists the aid of Gwen's assistant, Kiki, who is her sister to help. When they get to the junket, things are still tense between them. And Kiki is trying hard to keep in check her feelings for Eddie. — rcs0411@yahoo.com