By EWAN McDONALD
(Herald rating: * * )
Stop me if you've heard this before #2: a famous couple look great on-screen but off-screen, in real life, however you want to put it, they've split up. This could not happen at a worse time for their studio. They are starring in
a mega-million-dollar production that could either sink or save the company. They will be counselled and troubled by a wise studio head and an eager-to-please PA.
Older moviegoers, or people who have nothing better to do at Christmas than watch old movies on TV, may recognise this as the classic 1952 musical Singing In The Rain, which starred Debbie Reynolds and Gene Kelly. Younger moviegoers may know it as America's Sweethearts, a 2001 kind-of-a-comedy featuring Julia Roberts, Catherine Zeta-Jones, John Cusack, Billy Crystal and Stanley Tucci, with a couple of passing cameos.
In this version Roberts and Zeta-Jones play sisters Kiki and Gwen. Gwen is the sleek and famous beauty. Kiki is her sister's overweight gofer (only in a Hollywood movie could Julia Roberts pass for overweight). Cusack is Gwen's costar on both sides of the screen, but Gwen has been seduced by a Latin Lothario, Hector (Hank Azaria). Eddie goes ballistic and rides his Harley into them before being hidden in a rehab clinic run by Alan Arkin, a "wellness guide". Hal Weidmann (Christopher Walken) is an off-the-wall director who has spent $86 million on the film which depends on the costars' chemistry.
Which, along with a spark, is what's missing from this tired remake.
* DVD features: movie (100 mins); 5 deleted scenes; trailers of romantic comedies; cast and crew filmographies.
Rental video, DVD: Today
