America's Sweethearts
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: July 20, 2001 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
44
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
12
Negative:
9
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Turns the kleig lights around to produce a wry and dead-on commentary on the film industry and the journalists who cover it.
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Terrifically funny romantic comedy, is a slam-dunk for Julia Roberts, the Michael Jordan of cuteness. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
Surprisingly funny and sweet, despite some missed comic opportunities and curious casting choices. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
The result is a back-lot studio tour that's not exactly good-natured, but terrific fun and it gives the ensemble cast plenty of clowning opportunities. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Though an uneven, often confused, mixed bag -- the movie gradually comes together to be a fairly hilarious inside-Hollywood farce. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
At its heart the film wants nothing more than to make you giggle, and at that it succeeds admirably. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
For the farce it so desperately wants to be, the film often feels slack and too reliant on so-so punch lines for laughs. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
All these good actors and all Crystal's sass and witty candor can't bring back the heyday of Billy Wilder and Preston Sturges. Or even, most of the time, their off-days. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Christopher Walken has the best moments in the whole thing, portraying the wacked-out auteur of the Gwen-and-Eddie vehicle. Sadly, he's only in America's Sweethearts a few hilarious minutes.
63
Boston GlobeJay Carr
You keep waiting for it to go into orbit, to be really fizzy and outrageous, like the screwball farce it wants to be. Instead, the film settles for the merely serviceable. Read full review
63
USA TodaySusan Wloszczyna
This movie is a cookie. A slightly stale generic-brand cookie. Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalEd Epstein
Amusing enough, especially with its uniquely credible premise of a media fraud, to recommend.
60
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
As enjoyable as this film is in parts, it's not nearly as successful as a whole. Enormously engaging in its opening segments, it's unable to sustain that good feeling over the long haul. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianBarry Johnson
Surprise! Crystal has given himself most of the best lines, though he also allows a Doberman to have its way with him. Read full review
50
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Resoundingly so-so. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
While the film delivers some sharp dialogue, overall it's soft and slightly unfocused. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
America's Sweethearts recycles "Singin' in the Rain" but lacks the sassy genius of that 1952 musical, which is still the best comedy ever made about Hollywood. Read full review
50
SlateDavid Edelstein
The movie is a polished muddle, fitfully amusing but with no spine. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
Too eager to please to be truly dislikable, and Roberts and Cusack have a fine rapport. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
No excuse for the bitterness and crudity in America's Sweethearts -- a noxious combination that erodes the 1930s and '40s screwball-comedy armature on which this mirthless movie is based. Read full review
40
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Like a bottle of lukewarm Champagne -- an expensive one, judging by the label -- America's Sweethearts opens with a promising burst of effervescence and quickly goes flat. Read full review
40
VarietyRobert Koehler
Begins as a smartly promising, gently farcical comedy of manners and ends as sourly and haphazardly as the lives it is poking fun at. Read full review
40
Mr. ShowbizKevin Maynard
It's dull, two-dimensional, and totally toothless.
30
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Chockablock with things we're not supposed to notice: that Roberts is wasted; that she and Cusack have no characters to play, so it's virtually impossible to understand why she loves him or vice versa; that the script provides comedy without bite and romance without resonance. Read full review
30
SalonCharles Taylor
It's mostly terrible. The movie has no sparkle, no charm, nothing to sweep us off our feet. Read full review
30
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
A lackluster screwball comedy. Read full review
30
Washington PostRita Kempley
The sparks don't fly -- they fall down and they can't get up. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleEdward Guthmann
This is the downside of Roberts' giant success and her dazzling ability to charm: Every time she goes plain, as she did in the little-seen "Mary Reilly" and "Michael Collins," our princess simply fizzles. Read full review
25
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Falls flat on screen, weighed down by far-fetched plot twists. Read full review
20
L.A. WeeklyManohla Dargis
The film isn't just banal, it's aggressively, arrogantly banal. Read full review
20
New Times (L.A.)Robert Wilonsky
Obnoxious, transparent cornball comedy. Read full review
20
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Overwritten by Billy Crystal and Peter Tolan, overdirected by Joe Roth, overplayed by most of the cast, yet typically undernourished. Read full review
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