America's Sweethearts is a breezy comedy that gets a lot of mileage out of its top-flight ensemble cast. Even if the directing by former Hollywood studio chief Joe Roth and the screenplay by Billy Crystal and Peter Tolan are both on the bland side, the folks in front of the camera prove to have more than enough comic firepower to make the film a decent, if not entirely successful, night at the flicks.

Kiki Harrison (Julia Roberts) is the devoted assistant (and sister) of popular film star (and all around manipulative bitch) Gwen Harrison (Catherine Zeta-Jones). Think of Cinderella with one wicked sibling instead of three and you get the picture regarding their relationship. Kiki's life is about to become even more of a pain since she has agreed to help veteran press agent Lee Phillips (Billy Crystal) reunite Gwen with her estranged actor husband, Eddie Thomas (John Cusack), for one last public appearance at a weekend press junket to promote their latest onscreen collaboration, a $90 million science fiction film that no one, including studio head Dave Kingman (Stanley Tucci) has seen.

At first, trying to maintain the peace between Gwen and Eddie seems to be the biggest hurdle facing Kiki and Lee as the couple, deemed "America's Sweethearts" by the public and the press, really can't stand to be around each other. But soon Kiki finds that she's faced with a more important concern as her longtime friendship with Eddie begins to take a romantic turn.

Didn't see that one coming now, did you?

Crystal, along with Peter Tolan (Analyze This), haven't really written a screenplay with a point as much as writing 100 pages of one-liners and zingers for the cast to use. The story tries to combine showbiz satire with romantic fluff. Yet, neither part really works. The satire offers nothing new to say on an industry that pretty much lampoons itself nor does it work as a Julia Roberts romantic comedy the way Notting Hill or Pretty Woman did. The love story seems like an afterthought, simply going through the motions on its way to hooking up Kiki and Eddie. These situations are filled with jokes that are indeed funny. Unfortunately, the story they come from is not.

Joe Roth, who has been in charge of Walt Disney Pictures and 20th Century Fox, is more adept at running a studio than he is making movies for one. His directing isn't the worst that I have seen this year (there are about four dozen other people ahead of him), but it certainly is lacking a pulse. There is no level of energy, urgency or focus coming from his handling of the material. He zigzags from romantic to satirical to screwball comedy with little success. The last film he directed was 1988's Coupe De Ville and judging by his work on that dud and here, I think it would be wise if he left the bullhorn chores to someone else.

If there is one thing about America's Sweethearts that can't be contested, it is the appealing ensemble cast. They take their familiar characters and infuse them with the energy that the story and directing could have desperately used. You've seen all the four lead actors play these roles before: Roberts as the blossoming beauty (Pretty Woman), Zeta-Jones as the manipulative beauty (Traffic), Cusack as the lovesick schmoe (High Fidelity, Say Anything) and Crystal as the wise ass (pretty much anything he's been associated with).

Yet, their comic timing and big screen appeal (coupled with Crystal and Tolan's jokes and one-liners) bring enough life to the film to make it worth seeing. Keep an eye out for Christopher Walken's brief but hilarious performance as director Hal Weidmann. I could easily have watched an entire movie centered around his character. If the screenplay was more focused and had there been a real director calling the shots, America's Sweethearts could have been something truly special. As it stands, the cast makes it worthy enough to recommend it as a passable night at the flicks.

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