Julia Roberts can make an unkind remark land without softening it for our benefit. We rate her most highly in parts that give her room to be difficult, and the ensemble films have not always given her enough to do.
Fi1m perspective
In After the Hunt (2025), Julia Roberts lets a reaction cross Alma Imhoff’s face, then shuts it away. The slow blink and the reply that becomes another question make her philosophy professor difficult to read without making her dull. We were gripped by the office scene with Ayo Edebiri, because Roberts weighs every word while Edebiri watches for what she is keeping back. Luca Guadagnino gives her a substantial part, although the film keeps abandoning confrontations just when they might get somewhere.
Pretty Woman (1990) established her as a romantic-comedy star, with the timing and warmth that suited much of her 1990s work. Drama and ensemble roles became a larger part of her career after 2000. Mike Nichols’s Closer (2004) gave her colder material, though Erin Brockovich (2000) had already put her impatience and bluntness to good use. The familiar warmth makes it more noticeable when she chooses not to offer any.
Steven Soderbergh gives her space to be fast, loud and exact in Erin Brockovich. Her swearing is precise, aimed at a particular person rather than scattered about for colour. Jeffrey Kurland’s short skirts and low-cut tops ensure that she is judged before she speaks, and Roberts makes those judgements look foolish without begging for sympathy. The story is predictable, and the performance gives us good reason to stay with it.
Soderbergh has also wasted her. In Ocean’s Eleven (2001), Tess spends too much of her small part descending staircases while men admire her; the pleasure of the robbery survives the neglect. She is loose and amused in the deliberately artificial romance inside Full Frontal (2002), but the film’s drifting, self-indulgent construction gives that playfulness little purpose. Ocean’s Twelve (2004) holds her back for a joke we will not describe.
Sam Esmail makes better use of her in Leave the World Behind (2023), even though his film eventually explains too much. As Amanda Sandford, Roberts says the unkind thing and then defends it; the porch scene with Mahershala Ali holds our attention because she makes his attempt to establish that he owns the house so uncomfortable. She plays Amanda without asking us to forgive her. We would welcome another role as substantial as Alma, preferably in a film that lets its conversations finish.
Biography
Julia Fiona Roberts is an American actress. She was born on 28 October 1967 in Smyrna, Georgia.
Roberts first gained attention with roles in Mystic Pizza (1988) and Steel Magnolias (1989). She became widely known for leading parts in Pretty Woman (1990), My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), Notting Hill (1999) and Runaway Bride (1999). She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Erin Brockovich (2000).
Her later credits include Ocean's Eleven (2001), Ocean's Twelve (2004), Wonder (2017), Ticket to Paradise (2022), Leave the World Behind (2023) and After the Hunt (2025). She has also appeared in television series such as Homecoming (2018) and Gaslit (2022).
