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Top Box Office Hits FOR THE WEEKEND OF JULY 6-8_._ ^ 1.'Jurassic Park III' $50.3 million 6. 'The Fast and the Furious’ $5.2 million 2. ‘America’s Sweethearts' $31.0 million 7. ‘Scary Movie 2’ $4.4 million 3. ‘Legally Blonde’ $11.0 million 8. ‘Or. DoLittle 2’ $4.3 million 4. ‘The Score’ $10.7 million 9. ‘Final Fantasy' $3.5 million 5. ‘Cats & Dogs' $6.7 million 10.‘Kiss of the Dragon’ $2.8 million _I_ON P E O P L PLACES_ Wednesday, July 25,2001 lOlC 03111 CCOCk Pa9e5 Special to The Gamecock LEFT TO RIGHT: Catherine Zeta-Jones (Gwen), Julia Roberts (Kiki) and John Cusack (Eddie) star in “America s a««>thearts.” Roberts, Cusack shine in 'Sweethearts' by Tug Baker The Gamecock OVERALL: The stars shine in this movie, though the plot does not. ☆☆☆ Of ☆☆☆☆☆ w »>• - •' m “America’s Sweethearts” opened this weekend after what was perhaps the biggest promotional movie tour seen since ... well, since Julia Roberts’ last movie. The stars of the movie — Roberts, John Cusack, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Billy Crystal — were seen hosting VHl’s top 20 video countdown, appearing individually for four straight days on the “Today Show” and, of course, chatting with Oprah. Was this publicity Irenzy really worth it? Yes and no. “America’s Sweethearts” is an infectious romantic comedy that’s loosely inspired by the 1952 musical classic “Singin’ in the Rain.” Written by Crystal and Peter Tolan, the story is about Eddie Thomas (Cusack) and Gwen Harrison (Zeta-Jones), two movie stars who are coupled on and off the screen. But lately, things have been going much better on-screen than off — Gwen has dumped Eddie for a Spanish lover named Hector (Hank Azaria). When the couple’s new movie hasn’t shown up yet because director Hal Weidmann (Christopher Walken) is holding it hostage, the producer turns to top-notch public relations man Lee (Crystal). He puts Lee in charge of finding something for the press to talk about at the film’s junket until the movie actually gets there. Lee decides that getting Eddie and Gwen back together would generate some excitement, so he enlists the help of Kiki (Roberts), Gwen’s sister and assistant. Of course, Eddie, along the way, realizes it’s actually Kiki he loves. The movie starts off extremely promising. The characters and scenes appear to work quite naturally, and the laughs just won’t stop. However, once Eddie and Kiki begin to foster a romantic relationship, everything seems to happen a little too fast and to unbelievably. This effect seems to snowball until the hnale where Weidmann shows the press the film, which isn’t quite what they expected. The ending is so over the-top that the Hubble probably couldn’t see it. The movie never really stops being funny because of the Sweet see page 6 Through the Looking Glass ■ Now he’s extremely depressed Police say a man who robbed eight gas stations in northern Kentucky used his own car for the getaways, despite the fact that it has vanity plates that spell out his last name. Witnesses had no trouble remembering the unusual license plates. After making the arrest, one cop said, “He was either extremely confident or extremely stupid.” ■ What are you doing here? A Colorado man got so intoxicated that he mistook his neighbor’s home for his own (they are identical houses), and got into a gun battle when he entered the man’s bedroom. When the drunk discovered his keys didn’t fit, he went around back to the sliding glass door of the master bedroom. The 79-year-old homeowner saw him and fined his .357 Magnum. The two struggled for the gun, and both were critically wounded. ■ What’s a mirror for anyway? Police pulled over a young man on a highway in central Portugal after they saw him looking into the rearview mirror and shaving as he drove along. He told them he wanted to look his best for an important meeting. ■ I didn’t hear anything A family whose London home was the target of a drug raid filed a complaint with authorities, not that it was wrong to search the home, but that one of the policemen thunderously broke wind in the hallway and failed to apologize. Scotland Yard has confirmed that “an incivility charge” is being investigated, but didn’t say what penalty the gas-passing policeman would face. Mike Pingree/College Press Exchange