Julia Roberts, Billy Crystal, Catherine Zeta-Jones, John Cusack. With that kind of name-power you'd think this movie would have more going for it, but it's a bit of a placidly predictable romantic comedy. Not that there's anything wrong with romantic comedies -- I love the genre. It's just that there wasn't much going on in this movie to make you really root for the characters.

Publicist Lee Phillips (Crystal) has a problem: he has to promote Time Over Time, a new mega-blockbuster movie. Unfortunately, the two stars, Gwen Harrison (Zeta-Jones) and Eddie Thomas (Cusack), once the most beloved star couple in showbusiness but now on the road to divorce, really shouldn't be in the same place together. Gwen left Eddie for the well-hung Spanish stud Hector (Hank Azaria) a year ago, leaving Eddie an emotional mess and in a mental institution.

Lee enlists Gwen's sister and assistant, Kiki (Roberts), to help him convince Gwen to go on the press junket for the film. Although Gwen would rather not come near Eddie due to his unstable condition, her career has gone downhill since the breakup and besides she can serve Eddie with the divorce papers. It doesn't take much to convince Eddie to go for he still has hopes of reconciliation with Gwen.

Meanwhile, we soon discover that Kiki has long been attracted to Eddie, though before he was married to Gwen and Kiki weighed 60 pounds more. She is torn between her sister and Eddie, trying to walk a fine line throughout the junket. Lee on the other hand needs to convince the press, and through them the American public, that Eddie and Gwen may be reconciling, which would greatly boost interest in the film.

That's the basic plot. Eddie makes a few plays for Gwen, who is not really a nice person. Hector gets jealous, making a ruckus at at times. Lee stages things and manipulates behind the scenes to create an illusion of normalcy while Kiki is the rational one. There are some good small roles played by Christoper Walken as Hal Weidmann, the brilliant director of Time Over Time who hasn't even finished editting the film when the press junket starts; Seth Green plays Danny Wax, Lee's eager and inept assistant; Stanley Tucci as Dave Kingman, studio exec; and Alan Arkin as the head of the wellness center that Eddie is staying at in the beginning of the film.

So why was I not impressed with the film? To be sure it's a nice film with a good ending. John Cusack just does not make a good romantic lead. He's too quirky, which is how Eddie is, but it makes the character too much of a "why the heck is Kiki interested in him?" Other than Kiki, every character is too quirky or mean. I guess I never really felt the romance in the movie.

Still, given that I think it's a nice movie to go see. Don't set your expectations too high and you'll like the movie. It's not Notting Hill, nor even Runaway Bride, but it's still Julia Roberts in a romantic movie and she does those oh so well. I saw this movie with my kid brother (and I'm still surprised he wanted to see it) and he liked it well enough.