The Big Picture - The Julia Roberts Hall of Fame and ‘Ticket to Paradise’

Episode Date: October 21, 2022

Julia Roberts, the once (and maybe future) queen of the box office returns to movie theaters this weekend with ‘Ticket to Paradise,’ a rom-com reunion of sorts with George Clooney—her first starring role on the big screen in four years. Amanda and Sean will review this new film, then build their Julia Roberts Hall of Fame by choosing 10 of her most essential movie roles. Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Producer: Bobby Wagner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn more about the albums you love with Dissect, a music analysis podcast hosted by me, Cole Kushner, a lifelong musician and composer. Each season of Dissect dives deep into a single album, forensically dissecting the music, lyrics, and meaning of one song per episode. Our newest season is covering Tyler the Creator's Igor, a beautifully honest album in which Tyler explores love, communication, masculinity, and truth. Listen to Dissect today only on Spotify, because great art deserves more than a swipe. and get up to $75 in PC Optimum Points. Visit Superstore.ca to get started. I'm Sean Fennessy. I'm Amanda Dobbins.

And this is The Big Picture, a conversation show about Julia Roberts, the once and maybe future queen of the box office, returns to movie theaters this weekend with Ticket to Paradise, a rom-com reunion of sorts with George Clooney and her first starring role on the big screen in four years. Today on the show, Amanda and I will review this new film and then build our Hall of Fame for Julia, choosing her 10 essential movie roles.

Amanda, let's begin with the movie Ticket to Paradise. Let's begin with Julia Roberts. Can we just set the mood? Sure. I just, I love Julia Roberts. the movie ticket to paradise let's begin with julia roberts can we just set the mood sure i just i i love julia roberts i just you know i obviously always love julia roberts but i have been doing research for this podcast i take my role as the julia roberts you know standard bearer on this podcast seriously just a national treasure all things that have been said before on the cover of Vanity Fair a million times. But like, I guess I too had felt the four-year gap.

She hadn't been in my life as much. Just an astonishing presence. I'm thrilled that she's back. And that's the energy that I'm bringing to this podcast. And you better get in line. I promise you I will not shit in this punch bowl. Like, I also love Julia Roberts. I have very I will not shit in this punch bowl. I also love Julia Roberts. I have very

uncomplicated feelings about her. I was re-watching a couple of Julia Roberts movies last night with my wife and I turned to her and I was like, what's your Julia Roberts take? Give me your pitch. Give me your idea. And she's just like, she just makes everything better. Every time she's

in something, it makes it better. And frankly, she's made a lot of movies that are not really that great. Yeah. And she's made, she made them a lot better. And her stardom is really fascinating because she's a very, very talented actor. She's an elite movie star. And so this will be a fun conversation. Ticket to Paradise is an interesting document in the movie world of 2022. It's co-written and directed by Ole Parker, who people probably best know from his work directing Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, the sequel to the Mamma Mia! film. I'll read a description of this plot.

Okay. And then let's just shoot the shit about this movie. What do you think? Okay. So, two divorced parents, David and Georgia Cotton, they are Clooney and Roberts respectively, travel to Bali after learning that their daughter, Lily, is planning to marry a man named G'day, whom she has just met.

They decide to work together to sabotage the wedding to prevent Lily from making the same mistake that they made 25 years ago. So this movie on its surface has everything Amanda Dobbins wants. Absolutely. Everything. There is a beautiful destination. There is a couple of promising young stars. There are two iconic movie stars.

There's lost and perhaps found love. Some comic antics. What did you think of Ticket to Paradise? I had a fantastic time. So I want to set the scene. I had plans on the evening of this screening with two good friends of mine. I texted them and I said, you know, unfortunately, like, I can't come hang out anymore because I need to go see the Julia Roberts and George Clooney movie. And the two friends were immediately like, how can we also go see the George Clooney and Julia Roberts movie, which is essential.

So this became mission mom's night out. And I want to thank Shannon at Universal for her help. And Sean also for sharing his plus one to this screening in order to get me and my friends into Ticket to Paradise. We had a margarita and some guacamole before the screening and sat down and three women walked out delighted. All right. And that's the important thing. If you at home are at all excited about the idea of George Clooney and Julia Roberts in a movie together and you have friends or, you know, relatives, anyone who wants to go with you a delightful delightful time at the movie it delivers now is this a great film it's a different conversation and we can have it one other kind of situational note that i'd like the listeners of this podcast to have is that here was sean's experience of uh

ticket to paradise and by the way he was invited to hang out with the moms, you know, it was okay. I'm not anti-mom nor am I anti the trio of moms who gathered on that day. I'm just in a very busy post COVID lifestyle moment. And I just, every minute matters. And you know, because as I'm sure you're about to identify, I like made it by the skin of my teeth to this movie. So you were like a minute late. I had saved a seat for you. Thank you. That was wonderful. With the moms. So no problem. You and I are great seat savers for one another. I will say we have a tried and true history of taking care of each other. It's very supportive. Right. Well, because that's like what normal people do, which we'll come back to. Anyway, Sean was a minute late to the screening. He went to the bathroom during the dance scene. Guys, like he went to the bathroom during the dance scene. Guys, like he went to the bathroom

and then two minutes later, this scene that you've all seen in the trailer of Julia Roberts and George Clooney dancing and embarrassing their child starts. And like, I don't know, you checked your phone. Like you spent a long, I was so stressed out. I was just like, I need Sean to come back for the dance scene. I can't do a podcast with him.

If he misses this crucial moment, it's like when you sean to come back for the dance scene i can't do a podcast with him if he misses this crucial moment it's like when you went to the bathroom during the essential speech in lion king that explained simba's motivation and love for his dad and then you were like shakespeare's bad anyway sean made it back and then i did make it back for the House of Pain jump around moment. Sure. Yeah. That was cool. It was the whole thing was funny. And then Sean ran away after the screening, which is like a thing that you do. Yeah. And I just want to let you know, as your friend, when you see me in public and like a normal and like it's OK to be normal and say, hi, Amanda, how are you for 30 seconds?

I'm only asking for 30 seconds. We're way past that. That's like to me, it's like an even greater expression of my friendship with you that I don't need these vagaries of acquaintances. Like we're deep in it, you and I, we've been in it for years. And I like actually do know that. And I want you to know that I understand it, but other people. Oh, are they like, why is Sean so weird? And I'm happy to be your ambassador out in the world and be like, that's just Sean

he's gotta get home I'm just really harried at the moment, honestly my apologies to Molly and Lauren God bless them, I hope they had a wonderful night they did I'm sorry if I was a weirdo, it happens I have some odd tendencies I had a really good time with this movie too

it's definitely not a good movie but I don't really think that matters. I don't, I don't really think that that is the mission was not to make Barry Lyndon here. Um, the mission was to, I think, create a night out like the one that you had, which is like, let's have some, some guacamole and some, and maybe a cocktail and let's just bask in the glow of the setting and the people that we love to spend time with at the movies. And it was a very, it's not necessarily an old fashioned film. I would say like the kind of like the tonality of it

and like some of the storytelling was pretty modern. You know, it wasn't like it couldn't have been made in 1976, but it certainly felt like it was much more interested in shining that spotlight on its two stars and just kind of letting them cook yes and then it was you know fulfilling its promises like the a modern day ernst lubitsch movie you know what i mean like it really it wasn't that and that's honestly okay like i don't it maybe it's a sliding scale and and partial credit this being the year of no partial credit we should we can discuss that a bit. Because now the ball is in your court on that one.

Well, do you want to have the fight between partial credit versus being what it is? Sure, I'm willing to have any fight with you any day of the week. This is a pretty good version of what it is. Could it be better? Yes. I do have some notes of my own and also passed on from Molly and Lauren that I'd like to share specifically about the third act of the film. But the first 45 minutes, when it is just like George and Julia letting them cook, it's delightful. Like, and, and if that's what you

want, which is what I wanted from a movie, it, it's pretty good. And I would say it scratches the itch that it like crete promises. I don't know. The metaphor eludes me, but it fulfills what it needs to do. I think one of the things that is notable about the movie and that I would say that was not my favorite part actually is a little bit opposed to what you just said. Clooney and Roberts in real life are obviously friends and they occupy like an extraordinarily rarefied air and I'm sure they connect on that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Two of like 14 people living who kind of had the same experience becoming a famous person over the last 30, 35 years. The movie goes to great pains through the first half hour, 45 minutes to show you how much they hate each other, right? Which is really kind of greasing the wheels

for where the story is going. I felt like it was actually a little too much, like a little over the top. And I, real childhood divorce parents energy here. Right. But like, it was too much.

Like I've seen my parents get into it in the past, but I was like, they're almost overselling how toxic their relationship had become or their kind of non-relationship had become. And I know that they do that for the payoff through the end of the story. But I felt like the movie really started clicking

as soon as they started softening. Like as soon, there's a scene where George Clooney is sitting alone at a bar. Yeah. And Billy Lord, who is Caitlin Deaver's character's best friend, the person with whom she goes to Bali, she sidles up next to him at the bar. Everyone was very nervous for like half a second.

Oh, yeah. And then I was like, you guys aren't going to do, and then they didn't do this. This is a conscious movie. Anyway, continue. Shout out to George Clooney not trying to shoehorn that moment in because Julia Roberts gets a younger love interest in this film. Oh, yeah.

George Clooney does not. But he starts telling a piece of their backstory. And then the film becomes a little bit more winsome and a little bit more sentimental. And then I felt like it kind of took flight for me. In that moment, that scene, once we got past the scary five seconds, I did think to myself, is this the best acting that George Clooney has done in at least 10 years? So good. Probably 15.

It was amazing. And there are a lot of moments in this movie where Clooney or Julia Roberts are asked to give these monologues, basically, about either their relationship or about being a parent, which, again, kind of target audience here. And the speeches are fine. They're sort of classic studio fare. The writing's not bad. The writing's not bad. It could be better in places, especially, I think, towards the end when it becomes like a collision of speeches. But every time, they're just selling it.

And it's incredible. It's, I think, a nice fine-grained combination of what both of them do best. Like, they're very well cast into these roles. And, you know, I think both of their production companies had a hand in producing the movie. So I'm sure that there was a lot of attention paid to specifically their moments. The thing is, is that, like, it is a deeply disposable kind of a movie that features three or four, like, man, this is what you come to the movies for with these people moments. So, in a way, it almost makes the makes the movie feel like a little bit worse by contrast because you have there's a similar moment

between Julia Roberts and Caitlin Dever's character near the end of the film where I'm like this is beautiful like it's just really well done Caitlin Dever also as you know one of my favorites I think she's really really talented isn't usually in work like this. She usually takes on a much more sort of serious kind of film. So I liked it. And I would recommend it to like your common moviegoer. Yeah. But like it is also, it sticks out like a sore thumb because it's a real like, they don't make anything like this anymore.

It's not even like a Hepburn and Tracy movie. It's like, it's not even like a 1987 version of a Hepburn and Tracy movie. So it's an unusual artifact of our modern time. I think you're being a little bit hard on it relative to the 1987 version of a Hepburn and Tracy movie. Because in re-watching a lot of these Julia Roberts movies, including some of the all-out classics of genre or film history and in one woman's opinion like we we do forget that a lot of these movies are four or five like memorable classic like all-time ingrained in our you know hearts moments and then some shaggy stuff like do you remember the first 20 minutes of pretty woman

have you ever seen them or have you seen them in the last 20 years no because you turn it on like some well you never turn it on but i turn it on that's not true i actually didn't revisit that movie because i felt like i have a i have a handle on pretty when we do these i re-watch a lot of stuff that i haven't seen in a while and scenes or whatever and then on the night before like the right before i go to bed i save save the hit, the most familiar thing as a treat. So I did do some of it. I didn't do all of it because I haven't memorized, but I was going

to do a little bit and obviously stayed until Big Mistake Huge. But what you're saying is that that movie has aged and that actually by contrast, when you watch a movie like this, it feels solid. It's just that a lot of the movies that we hold as the highest form that you and I saw when we were like eight.

See, this is the difference between me and you. Seven hasn't aged a day. Yeah. My all-time classics, we're still rocking in the free world. Okay. You've seen Pulp Fiction? Fucking kicks ass. All right.

That's great for you. How about this? Half of the movies that are featured on rewatchables are shaggy. That's great for you. Like, how about this? Half of the movies that are featured on rewatchables. Yes, that's true. Are shaggy, you know, and have parts that we just kind of allied because we remember the good things. Yeah, you're right. So now the down moments in this movie are a very like 20, 22 down mixture of, you know, 45, like really self-conscious speeches about feelings and therapy

and also some bad CGI. Or not bad, but it's very obvious. The movie's set in Bali. It was filmed during COVID-19, primarily in Australia in a place called the Whitsunday Islands, which sounds made up but looks beautiful. But they're putting some like i saw a fake

volcano you know yeah there's a fake snake yeah there's i mean there are some other fake animals that i don't really want to and the fake animals that are played for laughs were actually kind of funny to me but you know you can tell that it's kind of mishmash it looks like they're cutting like at a fast pace to try to keep your attention. You know, it has some of the 2022 junk elements that like, I don't like as much. I'll tell you what it reminded me of a lot. I actually don't know if you got a chance to see this one, but it reminded me a lot of the lost city. Um, which is the Sandra Bullock. Yeah. I thought this was better than lost. I did too. And the lost city is much more like this movie is much more grounded and

lost. It is much more fantastical. And the premise itself is much more, like this movie is much more grounded and The Lost City is much more fantastical and the premise itself is kind of ridiculous. You don't like buy into the real world implications of The Lost City. Yeah. But it's more or less the same setup. It's a far off destination that is very beautiful, almost jungle-like.

It's two true blue movie stars kind of bickering and bantering and eventually having warm feelings towards one another. And it kind of spotlit what's great about those people. And that movie was a pretty big hit. Yeah. I don't know if this movie will be as big of a hit as that movie was, but this formula still works.

Like it just, and I really think if a movie like this is marketed well and supported by a studio and they find the right release date, like they definitely shouldn't move away from this stuff. Because it makes people happy. I agree. And it may not build an IP franchise forever, but it's just a really good use of these talented people. So even with some reservations, it's pretty easy to recommend.

I had a fantastic time. Can I move on to the news and notes portion of our ticket to paradise? Sure, of course. Well, you did mention Julia Roberts's younger boyfriend, who is played by Lucas Bravo. And I dramatically whispered. This was a rare instance where I shared crucial context information with you during a film. It's kind of a perfect, the amount of times I've done that.

Yeah, I know. But I did like in that exact same movie theater at the Century City, like at Ben Affleck's favorite mall. But he plays, he's from Emily in Paris. He plays the hot chef on Emily in Paris. And so I thought he was actually very funny without that knowledge.

But if you know that backstory, it's like extra funny. Yeah. I've only, I've seen a few episodes of Emily in Paris. Um, not, not really a TV program for me. Okay. Uh, it's evil. Um, but it's, I have actually thought a lot about it. I'm like, I think that this is an evil TV program. Um, but I've never been happier than having like a full season of Emily in Paris to watch while nine months pregnant. Like, and I just sat on the couch while everyone else went and did their thing. And I was thrilled.

My wife experienced it in a similar fashion, which is why I've seen a handful of episodes of the show. I didn't recognize him because I just didn't clock him. He's really hot. And my wife perked up quite a bit when I informed her that he was in this film. He's a very handsome dude. And we should probably mention Maxime Boutier too, who plays'day who plays caitlin deaver's character's love interest who actually who i'd never seen before who's an indonesian actor um who was very good who's

like surprisingly like held the movie together i thought so too he was like very charming and handsome but also brought the i guess the depth that some gravitas movie needs and also that this the actor who plays this role like the young up and comer heartthrob in the most recent generation like they never have it they just like a lot of these guys just kind of get shoved into

some drippy roles and can't bring it and I thought that Gaudet or Maxime Boutier really did what other news and notes did you have on this film? Sure. So Julia Roberts's wardrobe, exquisite. I just like, I don't know if you clocked that she was wearing stirrup pants. Did you see the stirrup pants? Incredible. I had a moment where I was like, should I invest in stirrup pants? And I was like, I'm not Julia Roberts. I had a moment where I was like, should I invest in stir pans? Then I was like, I'm not Julia Roberts. I also don't have the Gucci handbag in multiple colors that she's wearing.

And the first third of this movie we did, there was a lot of post wardrobe, like post movie wardrobe breakdown done by my friend, Lauren Sherman, who is a reporter at business of fashion. So she knows we think that most of the, the jumpsuits, a lot of jumpsuits. I was going to say, she was dressed kind of like a really stylish exterminator the whole time. All right. It was a lot of like those kind of slide in one gear. Like she worked in a body shop, but it was like they only sold Chanel there. Okay, right. So I don't think any of them were Chanel. Lauren's best guess that it was a combination of Gwyneth Paltrow's G-label line and Alex

Mill jumpsuits. I love Alex Mill. I do as well, actually. That's just an educated guess by my friend Lauren, but I don't know whether any other parts of the internet are going to serve that information. You kind of think, Julie. Can I ask you a question about this? This is related to what you've identified.

At a certain point, we learn that Julia Roberts' character is clearly very successful and You kind of think, Julie, well, can I ask you a question about this? This is related to what you've identified. At a certain point, we learn that Julia Roberts' character is clearly very successful and works in the art world. Right, and she has a gallery that's the size of the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles. It looks like a museum. Does she have her own museum in Los Angeles? So I honestly do think that building is maybe not the Children's Hospital, but it's one of the Kaiser buildings next to it, like right by the Scientology Center. But so what are we meant to believe there, that she owns a museum? No, I think we're just meant to believe she's really successful.

Okay. Because, you know, the backstory of the film was like we were just two crazy kids trying to rub two nickels together. And then he's like, how the fuck is this? Right. He's an architect who's like built Chicago and she is like owns the art world that's one other thing about this movie is it is like

it should have been called First World Problems like it is like super rich people and their successful daughter who goes to Bali after graduating college or law school

oh thank you for setting me up here is my number one note besides work on your script in the third act is Lily, played by Caelan Deaver, is shown at a graduation of some higher learning education, like higher education establishment. She is described as a lawyer several times throughout the film. It is also made very clear that she went to school for four years and now is going to be a lawyer. And it just, law school's three years. So did Caitlin Deaver graduate from college or from law school?

It is exclusively referred to as college throughout and not law school. And she went for four years, not three. So all of the indications of an undergraduate degree. And then she self-identifies as a lawyer multiple times. And George Clooney's character says she has a job lined up at one of the top law firms in Chicago. I don't understand how this got past everyone. This is the most logical insanity. And also, Sean, this can be fixed with an ADR. We can do it today. If anyone is listening, get Caitlin Deaver in the studio. All you got to do is have her say law school instead of college. Stick it in. We got it. Problem solved. I had the exact same note. It is baffling. It's in all likelihood is a kind of rewrite script supervisor mistake from a movie starring Julia Roberts and George Clooney.

It's really weird and confusing. And I've never heard a person refer to law school as college. So they should have fixed that. But I think I honestly think she was at law undergraduate school. Whatever. And you think they added law school as to raise the stakes after the fact? I have no idea how this happened. This is the thing, because it's written as four, there are multiple mentions to, like,

I spent four years doing X, Y, Z. And that's just, like, that's not how you become a lawyer. I mean, even if you're clerking, you're doing that in the summers. I mean, this wasn't exactly Robert Bolt writing this screenplay here. I know, but it was very confusing. The other thing that I wanted to mention, and I do understand that this film was made during COVID-19, and so there are a lot of production restrictions, but this is a movie about a wedding. This is a movie where Julia Roberts sets out to break up a wedding, which is the you know, the best circumstance that you can ask for.

That's right. We've seen this before. Yeah, exactly. And so it's a four-day wedding, perfect time frame. You know, we love a tight structure. They finally make it to the wedding. The wedding happens. There are a lot of, you know, personal revelations and breakthroughs. And we get no wedding party, not a second of a wedding party.

But we do get a wedding. So there is at least some ability to film groups of people together. There's even a line where Cailin Deaver says to George Clooney, like, will you come dance with me? No one thought to film these two people dancing? Did they not think I would want that at this point in the movie? That's a great note. I don't really... Give me a wedding party.

I mean, the film breaks one of my rules, which is that your film should never end on a wedding. Your film should open with a wedding, but films that end on weddings I think are kind of

narratively bunk. They're like... Okay, I have at least one exception to that. Sure, there's exceptions to every rules, but for the most part, I mean, that honestly says more about me and what my expectations are of the film.

Right, and once again, you don't like romantic comedies. Well, that's debatable. But the weddings themselves, they're just inherently dull as events unless something goes wrong. In this case, it doesn't. But it's like if we're going to have closure in every other way, which, spoiler alert, everyone here gets closure of a kind. It's a happy movie. Then also just give me some. I'm not so sure that your man from Emily in Paris did, but otherwise.

But that's funny. I'm glad that he gets to be funny. They don't let the hot guys be funny often enough. Just give me some hors d'oeuvres and a wedding dance, you know? I'm sorry. They couldn't oblige. They didn'tuvres and a wedding dance, you know? I'm sorry. They couldn't oblige. They didn't do that. What other notes do you have?

So stay in your seats if you're like me. And as soon as the credit hits, you have just like a principled objection to watching whatever teaser nonsense nerds on the internet are going to talk about after. Resist your principles for this movie only because there are some credits delights that honestly really could have just been the first half of the movie and we all would have been really excited well that is a question that i had for you yes which is like is it possible that just a youtube video produced by vanity fair of george clooney and julia roberts talking to each other is better than this movie like just they've Like, they've been on the press tour.

If you listen to the press box, they've been talking. Brian has this great line that's like, the best interviews, the best feature stories, the best surrounding content for films is always for the person's least good movie. You know, like, it's always for the project that is, like, a little less successful. I've now seen them together in a handful of places,

and I'm like, this is money. This is fucking gold. Yeah. I don't think so because of the Clooney scene that you identified, the Julia Roberts scene

that you identified. These people can still bring it. And again, in this movie, they're bringing a lot about being a parent, which was really playing to the Mom's Night Out

plus Sean audience. I mean, perfect for me. Yeah. The Clooney with the daughter thing is just a home run in my heart. They're really good at it. Yeah. And you don't get that part in a YouTube video.

So... That's true. I'm glad that we got all of it. Also, like, a YouTube video doesn't provide an excuse for me and my friends to, like, go have a margarita in the mall. Yeah. You know, I bought a t-shirt.

It was a great night. This is the kind of movie that I, that sort of demands a bit more nuance in the star system. This is like a 2.75 stars movie. You know what I mean? It's like, it's not good, but it's not the sort of like meh that two and a half stars dictates.

There's like, I want to give it like extra credit for being like slightly's slightly above average well I guess technically it would be like a 2.6 it's a b minus it's a b minus no but that that's so negative b minuses were like really feared in I was gonna say in my home but really just in Amanda Dobbins's heart because you know that's that dips under the three. Sure. I think all achievers. It's a B. It's a B. Okay. All right. Great.

It's a solid B and an A plus time. And also in like a C plus time in movies. Yeah. So we're all grading on a curve here. Yeah. In 100 meters, turn right. Actually, no. Turn left.

There's some awesome new breakfast wraps at McDonald's. Really? Yeah. There's the sausage, bacon, and egg. A crispy seasoned chicken one. Mmm. A spicy end egg. Worth the detour. They sound amazing. Bet they taste amazing, too.

Wish I had a mouth. Take your morning into a delicious new direction with McDonald's new breakfast wraps. Add a small premium roast coffee for a dollar plus tax. At participating McDonald's restaurants. Ba-da-ba-ba-ba. You want to talk about Julia? I would love to. So Julia, because of what I mentioned at the top of this conversation, has really never been the subject of this show. Yeah.

She just has not been making films. She's been working in TV somewhat. But even then, it feels like she's very focused on family and has pulled back pretty significantly from her status as perhaps the female movie star of our lifetimes. Is that right? Absolutely. And it's easy to forget that now because she has not pursued the kinds of roles. This movie is much closer, I think, actually to the spirit of the kinds of movies that launched her than anything she's done in some years.

And so, you know, this is your girl. Tell me about your girl. How does she make you feel? What should we know about her? How do we frame this conversation? Born and raised in Smyrna, Georgia, which is very close to Atlanta. You know, really metro Atlanta. It just becomes, I think, a movie star and just a global, inescapable movie star right when you and I become conscious of movies. Makes, I would say, three of the top ten definitive modern rom-coms.

It was interesting when I was thinking about the impact that Julia Roberts has on romantic comedies. You know, I think in buckets. I think in the Nora Ephron bucket. I do sort of think in the Nancy Meyers bucket, but it's slightly different. And then I think in the Julia Roberts bucket. I guess there's like Richard Curtis, Julia Roberts, Nora Ephron. And those other two people are writer directors. And Julia Roberts is a star.

But she defines an entire way of making those movies and certainly like a character and identity that everyone else or all the other white women who are allowed to make romantic comedies in the 90s were competing with. If you look at the... And she never worked with them except for once, right? Only one Nancy Meyers project is the only time

that she's in the mix on those right what did she make with oh yes yes i love trouble in 94 yes that's true but she was not of the nora effron school um but it's funny if you look at the 1995 sandra bullock vanity fair cover story the display copy references julia rober Roberts as like the person who Sandra Bullock is like coming for. That's the level of stranglehold that Julia Roberts has on being a female movie star, at least. That also brings up this was like a classic era of Vanity Fair, certainly. And also People Magazine and tabloids. And Julia Roberts was like at the white hot center of all of that.

So investment in her as a movie star, a tabloid star, as well as this like incredible screen presence. And there's really no one like her. I was trying to think of a better smile in movies. You know, there's a couple of references to her nose, too. She's got an all-time nose. Yeah. And it's not a classically symmetrically beautiful nose, but it's a perfect fit

with her mouth, which is like, those were the selling points. And the laugh, I think, obviously, were the selling points. The smile and the laugh. But the only one that I could come up with

is Denzel. And who has, like, a very different, but is also kind of like a 90s movie star icon. And this smile that can mean so many different things. But then you have to like earn a real one. But when like the real smile comes through, it can kind of like turn an entire movie.

No, it's in the class of like Rita Hayworth and Gilda or Paul Newman and Hud. Like turning it on and overpowering you while you're watching a movie because of the way that you look and what you're communicating with your eyes and your face. Um, forgive this very ringer-esque hackneyed comparison, but the person I was thinking about when I was looking at her, the arc of her career and hearing Sandra Bullock come up in the context of this conversation is LeBron James because LeBron James got started, um, straight out of high school at a very young age. And so now when we talk about him,

whether the Lakers suck or not this year, and it seems like they're going to suck, longevity is an incredible, like the compiling of stats over time is just extraordinary. And she has a very similar thing. Julie Roberts is four years younger than Sandra Bullock. Yeah.

I mean, that's a, she's 54. Yeah. And she, it feels like she's been doing this since 1958. So when you look back, like she was so, so, so young. I was watching Sleeping with the Enemy last night, which we'll talk about a little bit. Oh, yeah. She was 23 years old when she made that movie. Yeah.

I mean, that's crazy. She's making that when Pretty made that movie. Yeah. I mean, that's crazy. She's making that when Pretty Woman is released. Right. And so, and Sleeping with the Enemy is a, spoiler alert,

not very good movie that makes like a shitload of money, a hundred million dollars because it just coasts on the phenomenon that was Pretty Woman. But she was even younger

when she made Pretty Woman. She's like 20. It's crazy. It's a really wild and long and very successful career. I think the conversation about her as movie star versus actor is a very interesting one because when you look through her career, I think you're right that she is defined

by the framework that you're describing, which is like her best known and best loved movies have that romantic comedy patina, I guess. But she pretty consistently bounced around different genres. She tried much more challenging dramatic roles. She made plenty of genre movies. I mean, she really has had a singular kind of career. She's worked with great filmmakers. Right. Not always successfully.

Almost never. But I guess what makes a Julia Roberts movie Julia Roberts movie is something I wanted to ask you. Well, it's she is the you want her to be Julia, you know, and she does try different things. And I credit her for being an interesting person who wants to be an actor and who wants to try other stuff. But I go to the movies to see Julia Roberts doing different things. And I think probably my arguments for the Hall of Fame will reflect that. That it's, you're going for, she's like one name, Julia, you know, in all lights. And she's either letting that charm, you know, shine through at some point. The movie turns on that smile or the movie turns on her doing like a meta performance on the idea of Julia, which takes on this, you know, takes up a large portion of her 2000s.

And as you know, I really love a movie star meta moment. So Pretty Woman, one of the reasons why I think that movie works so well is because I think it locates something that is great to have with Julia that I think holds back a lot of those movies that are not as well loved, which is that we love to watch great things happen to her. Yeah. You know, like when she becomes alive in a movie, we're excited. Yeah. We're with her. Exactly. You know, we want her to be happy. Right. And so when she's in Mary Riley, we're like, what is this? Why are you doing this? This is the absolute opposite. And it doesn't even matter if she's good in the film or not.

We come with such preconceived baggage and such preconceived expectation of what we're going to have with her. So her historic run here that you've identified in the outline is really interesting because in some ways it does that and in other ways

it's the opposite of that. And some of it is just 90s movie stars, Tom Cruise, Denzel um later sandra bullock keanu reeves a handful of these figures they got on this like momentous streak and it almost didn't matter if the movie was good or bad we were just like we'll be there yeah we'll show up but she's the definitive oh julia roberts is in a movie it's Julia and Tom Hanks and and Denzel are like the three of the 90s that we talk about all of the time right I

guess Tom Cruise but he gets sort of weird after 96 we're good I but you know not I think he started before them for the most part and care and part and has had a longer story to tell. She is, I like how you put it earlier, which is that like she really kind of came into the fore when we had a consciousness about some of this stuff. And so she feels like part of the furnishings of American movies. Why do you think she doesn't work? You listed out all these great filmmakers that she's worked with. Right. Spielberg, Altman, Pakula, Woody Allen, Soderbergh, Gore Verbinski, Mike Nichols, Tony Gilroy.

You also noted that it's like in the bottom 10, bottom 5 of most of those filmmakers' films. Yeah, and they're not her great movies either, for the most part. With the exception of Soderbergh, I would say, who is a person who knows how to work with movie stars and that's the thing it's I I don't it's sort of Steve it has any well yeah but that one like Hook is like a special asterisk like does that you know disaster and then yeah I'd be careful because there's a real hook hive out there there's a lot of people who would be like, Rufio matters. Well, Hook was very dramatic in the offset or the onset offscreen rumors. And I think Spielberg gave a famous 60 Minutes interview.

I think the quote was, it was an unfortunate time for us, meaning Spielberg and Julia Roberts, to work together. And said that on the record. What does that mean? I don't think it was a happy set. I don't together and said that on the record. What does that mean? I don't think it was a happy set. I don't think everyone was happy with the experience. What does that imply? Like the like discontent between them or like romance between them? No, no, no, no.

Discontent. This is like also around that, you know, it's I think it's post Pretty Woman or around Pretty Woman. So she's very young. This is part of the, you know, the Kiefer Sutherland, Jason Patch. I don't know if it's contemporaneous, because that's Flatliners, right? If you were a movie star,

do you think you would have emotional throwdowns with your director? Almost certainly. Of course. That's another thing I like about Julia Roberts is, we were talking about your daughter earlier but julia roberts is another person where you've got to earn the charm you've got to earn the big smile she's prickly she's a little intimidating she is sort of that um like old school like screwball like fast talking like don't mess with me vibe until

she like gets in hot water and then or you win her over and I like that yeah so I I would like to be more like that so I I love that about her but of course just so I'm clear here you're saying my daughter will be the next Julia Roberts that'd be great red hair maybe red hair yeah that's true uh god I would be so excited I mean imagine how I'd feel. So, yeah, I would get into it with my director. But I don't know. Has anyone developed like the auteur theory of movie stars? We're doing it. That's the purpose of our show.

Right. But I think that Julia Roberts is like a very specific example of things got to bend to her. She like is the charisma and the energy source of the film. So I think she works better with people who are willing to steer that as opposed to, you know,

have their own thing going. I mean, I think if you want to get like a little heady about her forebears, her predecessors, I think she's a real fun, interesting amalgam

of a lot of people who came before her. Barbara Stanwyck, Jenna Rollins, like women who were a little bit more unvarnished and bawdy and their charisma and their effusiveness could sometimes take movies over. Betty Davis comes to mind like there are a handful of serious actors or dramatic actors who I think set the stage for her and then allowed for her to kind of put that kind of energy that sort of like that skepticism that toughness that but that also that big bold laugh and love that she brings to movies and and put her in a position to succeed with like a slightly softer kind of in a softer movie culture you know what i mean like it's not a 1975 movie culture it's not a 1945 movie culture it's 1993 when like it's very corporate and we like want to love our people and corporate

media around them is like very very much like platforming them in a way that like simultaneously tells their tabloid story the way they might have in the 1950s, but also like kind of protects them too. Like, so I think you should situate her too as like a public figure in that way. Because her story has been boring for 20 years, but before that it was very tumultuous. It was remarkable. And it did all happen in public. And I think this is when I learned about People Magazine. So it's hard for me to talk about it without like a real sense of invigoration,

but like they were ruining her life. Let's be real. Like I do know that as a grownup, as an adult. If you have not read the People Magazine cover story about her canceled wedding to Kiefer Sutherland, which was going to be held on the Fox lot, Kiefer Sutherland, which was going to be held on the fox lot. Kiefer Sutherland requested a groom's cake that was a Thanksgiving turkey. And she then, after calling it off, flies to Ireland, I believe, with his friend Jason Patrick. And they're seen, quote, canoodling on the, well, I don't know if that's a quote, but Julia Roberts has been, quote, canoodling with a lot of people, according to the tabloids in her life.

She seems like an expert canoodler. Yeah. You know? Wouldn't you just love to have like a glass of red wine and some crusty bread with her? Yes. Wouldn't that be a great time? Yes. There is probably no one who I'd want to hang out with more.

I think it would be really fun. But the 1990, I reread all of her Vanity Fair pieces. And the Notting Hill 99 cover story that she does for Vanity Fair like makes a whole big to-do of canoodling is the word that gets described. So that's a whole thing.

And at some point, she marries Lyle Lovett. But I vividly remember that People magazine cover because I was like eight years old and was like, who the hell is Lyle Lovett? Him?

Yeah, which was sort of everyone's reaction. Yeah. I love Lyle Lovett for the record. Big fan. And Julia Roberts did as well, apparently, until she didn't. That marriage ended. There was a downturn, I want to say, like in terms of her career that people made a big deal of just in terms of, you know, like Hollywood likes a, they like a narrative and the tabloids like a narrative. So she was really big and then everything fell apart. And then it came back together with my best friend's wedding. And then she does all the meta movies, you know, so she, when she does Notting Hill and then when she's doing all the Oceans of Twelve, pretending to be Julia Roberts with Bruce Willis.

I wasn't in Four Weddings and a Funeral, which is one of my favorite movie scenes ever. She's playing sort of tabloid awareness. She's playing in on the joke. And then she wins an Oscar. And then she gets married, has kids, and moves to New Mexico and seems or and Malibu. They have a Malibu compound as well and seems to be living a fantastic life. So when I say she's just like mostly like being a mom and, you know, doing TV projects that interest her. No judgment. Seems great.

You know, may we all move to Malibu and do TV projects that interest us. Yeah, well, you know, to go back to my labored over LeBron comparison, it's very similar to like LeBron in his 20s made a lot of decisions where people like, fuck is wrong with you, man? Like the decision is a moment in his arc where people were like, that was a really low moment in terms of how he navigated his incredible talent and stardom. And then the last 10 years have just kind of been like, yeah, he won a couple of titles and he's maybe the second best player of all time. And it's all good. And he does AT&T commercials. Yeah, he's just really rich. He's a father.

How much money is he getting from AT&T and why? I mean, I understand that he has. A better spokesperson, you know, he's been connecting with his teammates for years. Wow. We're not getting money from AT&T. I'm available to be hired by any of these ad agencies. No one from Campari reached out to me. Wow, that's so sad.

It's really sad. You just threw it all on the line. You're like, I'm ready to be the spokesperson. Radio silence from Campari. This is why, you're right, no free ads. No free ads. Okay. But it's okay to talk about our passions.

Your passion is Julia Roberts. Building the Hall of Fame. You nervous? I don't think we're going to be as divided as we have been on some others.

I want you to make most of the decisions. I'm just wondering, do you feel like it's going to be hard to get down to 10? I'm not going to fight you on most of this stuff.

It might be. I honestly didn't count. I thought not going to fight you on most of this stuff. It might be. I honestly didn't count. I thought I would just do it live. Okay. In some ways, yes. At dinner the other night, my husband made the claim unwisely that George Clooney has been in more good movies

than Julia Roberts. Zach didn't win that fight. You know, Zach just really but that's more of a reflection on George Clooney and his movie career it's hard

he was trying to bring out B-list Coen Brothers movies to me and I was like you are gonna put you know Hail Caesar up against Pretty Woman

get the fuck out of my house I highly doubt he did that okay but he was trying he was trying this He was trying. This is a bit of a needling point. But, you know,

we end every Rewatchables by asking who won the movie. Mm-hmm. And there's a part of me that thinks that George Clooney might have won Ticket to Paradise. No. That he got more good scenes,

that he had more to play. Julia Roberts wore stirrup leggings. Goodbye. Okay. Goodbye. Okay. Okay. Are you sure? Yeah, I am. Okay.

Let's go through Julia Roberts' filmography. Okay. I have taken out a handful of things from this nearly 35-year career. Okay. I took out most of the voice acting that she's done in animated films. I feel like that's usually not eligible. I took out very, very small roles kind of early in her career. I

took out documentary voiceover stuff. Okay, great. But for the most part, these are her acting performances since 1988. We're going to start with a film called Satisfaction. I've never seen it. Nor have I. Okay, so we cannot weigh in on Satisfaction. But as I recall, Satisfaction sounds like a really interesting movie. Can we just briefly discuss it? Here's the bit. Justine Bateman rocks out as the leader

of an all-girl band that struggles with men and drugs during a summer resort gig. First of all, love Justine Bateman. I'm going to mention a couple of other people in this movie. Britta Phillips, the great indie rock artist who has composed songs

for no bomb box movies. Liam Neeson. Wow. Julia Roberts, Debbie Harry. Wow. Iconic front woman for Blondie.

I don't know. Okay. Could be something there. Maybe we should check out Satisfaction. So after Satisfaction the same year, her first big breakout role

is as one of the leads in the ensemble dramedy mystic pizza um is this movie in the hall of fame so this is like this story julia roberts you know surprises everyone in mystic pizza and we're not surprises but gets everyone attention she's very good in it did you re-watch mystic pizza i did i i didn't love it i didn't love it either i mean with all respect to the portuguese american community like are you gonna really claim pizza like that like thoroughly i don't is that based on a true pizza joint it must be and i would love to know what's going into the mystic pizza conchata farrell in the movie i think it's a lot of fun she's great as as the kind of the pizza queen.

I thought I would only watch like 30, 40 minutes of it. And I watched the whole thing. You know, I wanted to know what was going on. And we sometimes, when we're doing the Hall of Fames, like if you're building the myth, then this one's pretty important. So I would yellow it for now. I mean, it's definitely a yellow.

I agree. It's definitely a yellow. It agree. It's definitely a yellow. It's a movie that springs her into a kind of notoriety. It just felt more like Annabeth Gish's movie. Yeah, I mean, it is. And it's funny to, I mean,

I wonder what Annabeth Gish thinks about where her very successful career went. Right. But sitting alongside Julia, who went on to become one of the most inarguably famous people in the country. Right, but even in this movie, like alongside Julia, who went on to become one of the most inarguably famous people in the country.

Right, but even in this movie, Julia has the more fun. She plays kind of like the bad girl sister who dates the fake James Spader character. Matt Damon shows up. Did you clock Matt Damon in Mystic Pizza? He plays a character named Steamer, which is what, maybe that's how I'll refer to your son, Knox, going forward. Okay, Steamer.

That's funny, actually. It's a yellow. Okay. Blood Red is the next film on the list. She has a very small role in this film. This is actually a movie that stars her brother, Eric Roberts, as well as Dennis Hopper and Giancarlo Giannini,

pretty clearly not in. Yeah, no. Okay, now, Steel Magnolias. My colors are blush and bashful. Do you love Steel Magnolias? No, I don't. I actually find it really annoying. I mean, with all respect to every single,

you know, very iconic woman who is in this movie, I'm just like, this is, yeah, you made a play. Like, it's hard. It's sad. I cry anyway. I rewatched it. I was on the plane on the's sad. I cry anyway. I rewatched it. I was on the plane on the way back from New York. So I rewatched some of it.

And I love everyone in it. I'm not made of stone. But I just, like, don't really care about it that much. Did it do a lot for Julia? I think that she is in it. She's been cast, but it hasn't come out before she's cast in Pretty Woman. Okay. If I get that timeline right.

You know, this is all secondhand sourcing 30 years later, so I could be wrong. But I don't think it helps in her casting of Pretty Woman. Famously, she was like the absolute last choice for Pretty Woman. Interesting. Yeah, I mean, it's a Herbert Ross movie. It has one of the more memorable casts of the 1980s, honestly. It's Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, young Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis, Tom Skerritt, Dylan McDermott, and Sam Shepard. Yeah.

It's pretty loaded. Totally. You know, it's well known as this kind of like somewhat saccharine sentimental dramedy that I think people have a big emotional attachment to. Julia Roberts plays the pivotal role. Spoiler alert. I think people know. I mean, if you haven't seen Steel Magnolias, I don't know if I would recommend it to you. I mean, it can be a yellow, but it'll probably be first off the block for me. Unbelievable. You're really dissing the early stages. Now, for me personally-

I didn't diss Mystic Pizza. I usually try to go green on like, the career doesn't happen without this movie kind of movie. Okay. So we've now gone yellow on the first two. Well, I did say with Mystic Pizza, like we can come back to it. Okay, okay. And, but I would do green on Mystic Pizza before Steel Magnol can come back to it. Okay, okay. And, but I would do green on Mystic Pizza

before Steel Magnolias because it's my Hall of Fame. And I just, Steel Magnolias is annoying. Look, you're in charge. Okay. 1990, pretty woman.

The most green of all greens in of all time. Sort of a chartreuse. Yeah. It's, is that the most green that there is?

It's just like bright. You know what's really, you know what's interesting? So, have you noticed with all the the kids toys that our kids have now, they've really tried to like give an abundance of colors and like soft hues or whatever. But it just means that I have to teach Knox like 45 different words for green. You know, I'm like, this is teal. This is Kelly green.

Because like everything's green. It's great. Maybe he'll be a great artist. I hope so. That would be lovely. The collision of color and sound. green. It's great. Maybe he'll be a great artist. I hope so. That would be lovely. The collision of color and sound. Yeah. Filmmaking.

Pretty Woman is astonishing. The best thing ever will be when Knox turns out to be like a real highfalutin up his own ass auteur theory dickhead and we just hang out every weekend and you're like, where's Knox? And you're like, he's in Sean's movie dungeon watching another Argento. That's going to be the best. Okay. 1990, same year as Pretty Woman.

Right. You feel the need to say more about Pretty Woman? I mean, it's obviously the most iconic film that she's ever made. The thing about it that is appealing into it, just like being delightful and, you know, big mistake huge or whatever, is that you watch someone. It's like the becoming a star in real time. And you almost like watch her discovering it as like as the movie goes on. And you don't get that very often.

It's pretty exhilarating. It is. I got no notes on Pretty Woman, even if those first 20 minutes don't work as well as you'd want. And it's antiquated gender politics or whatever. I don't care. Yeah, I mean, correct. The subject matter is the subject matter. But the first 20 minutes were like Richard Gere focused

about how he needs to take over the company. And like, you know. I love when a guy needs to take over a company. Sure. It's just an awesome setup. This guy's got a company and he needs to take over? Well, there is a great scene when Vivian is like, what do you do?

And like tries to make him explain you know what his whole 80s leverage buyout i assume that's what he's doing or is he like michael milken i just don't really understand everything that michael milken was up to so i can't speak to that i know it wasn't good and i know he went to jail he certainly did uh okay 1990 another movie i re-watched last night, Flatliners. Yeah? This is an Eileen favorite, my wife. Really?

Which is unusual because it's quite a wild movie. It's more of a genre movie. I guess this is the film where she met Kiefer Sutherland? I think so. Sort of a horror movie, honestly, in keeping with the 31 days of horror this Halloween month. Directed by the great Joel Schumacher. Produced by Michael Douglas. Oh, yeah.

And it's about a band of kind of med students and quasi-med students who are really interested in killing and reviving each other in attempts to get closer to the afterlife and to understand the nature of life and death. I'm good. Not a fan? No. I, again, seek out the People magazine Kiefer Sutherland story if you haven't read it. It just also, People magazine was doing a level of quote, of reporting that they don't do anymore. There was a deeply unsuccessful remake of this film in 2017 starring Elliot Page and Diego Luna. Okay.

Nina Dobrev. Didn't pop. Didn't take. Okay, so you're just saying no to Flatliners. That hurts my feelings, but I get it. Okay. Sleeping with the Enemy, another movie I rewatched. I also rewatched the first half of it.

I'd like to share one thing about it. Okay. Whatever Patrick Bergen is on I want some his performance in this movie is so fucking funny Eileen and I were cackling watching this movie it's not good

and it is a very specific archetype of domestic thriller that was very prominent around this time. Hand that Rocks the Cradle, Unlawful Entry, Pacific Heights. There are a lot of movies that are not quote unquote good, but that are very entertaining in their absurdity. And I enjoyed myself. I think Julia Roberts is good in this film. Yeah.

But it's not a good movie. No, it's not good. It was a big hit it was a big hit because it literally was being filmed in south carolina even though it's supposed to be cape cod which you know i grew up going to the the southern beaches near where this was filmed please put some respect on on those beaches it was being filmed when pretty woman came out and so she just became a superstar and everyone went to see a Julia Roberts movie, which they would continue to do for the rest of the 90s. But it's not very good. It's funny,

but it's not good. Is Patrick Bergen playing an American in this film? I have no idea where he's from. What does he do? I think he works in banking. I think he's an investment advisor. Oh, great. Okay. So that's normal. He's an Irishman, Bergen. Yeah. He's a great Irishman. He's a ridiculous actor. And he's just got, frankly, if I grow a mustache, that's what it looks like. This guy's mustache.

And it makes me want to grow a mustache, but then I look like the guy from Sleeping with the Enemy. This made a lot of money. Yeah. But it's not good. I think it was kind of right time, right place for her and also for the kind of movie it was. Well, I'm just talking about in terms of Hall of Fame. We're not putting this in the Hall of Fame. I've already made it red.

Okay, great. Okay. Same year, Dying Young, starring a young Campbell Scott. I did not revisit this movie. It's been a very long time since I've seen this. Same, and I also did not rewatch it. Because you're like, it just doesn't matter. We don't need to put it in?

Correct. Was this movie a hit? Like, I'm looking at Wikipedia, which... Can we talk about box office stats for a second? Certainly. So, Box Office Mojo, now that it's breaking... If you look for an actor's box office, it's on IMDb Pro now. Which is $13 a month. Are you paying $13 a month for IMDb Pro?

I don't have IMDb. I don't either. But I just like Box Office Mojo. Help me out. You should use the numbers. Okay. Do you use the numbers? I do use the numbers.

But it's like, you know, you can't trust everything on the internet. Have we verified it? I like the numbers. I find the numbers to be fairly reliable. We're never going back to circa 2016 Box Office Mojo. That was the greatest time. But I was shocked this morning because I almost thought about getting a subscription. It was $13 a month.

It could be expensible. I guess. I know, but then you have to. It is part of our work. But they aren't selling an annual thing, and so then you have to upload it every month. We really got to work on expenses, everyone. That's not relevant to this conversation. Okay, so I Googled Dying Young Box Office Mojo.

33 domestic, 48 international. No, it's not really. They just love young dead guys overseas, don't they? I guess so. 48 million overseas. It's really strange because a lot of these 90s movies are not released internationally, so I'm surprised to learn that this was. Anyway.

Okay, so that one's out. Yeah. The aforementioned Hook is also from 1991. 1991 had Sleeping with the Enemy, Dying Young, and Hook. Yeah. Wow. So this is a Steven Spielberg film. Right.

Much maligned Steven Spielberg film that, of course, I really liked as a kid. Right. So Julia Roberts was maligned in the press because of how, because of whatever happened. I think, you know. Was she a little bratty on set? Yeah. Allegedly.

Okay. The name Tinker Hell was bandied about. Yeah. Yeah. So that's unfair. That's unfair. Okay. Team Julia Roberts.

That's good stuff. Do you want to put this in? I think the movie kind of lives and dies by Robin Williams. It doesn't really feel like Julia Roberts' movie. I agree. I think she's very charming as Tinkerbell, but it's considered by many, though not me, to be the worst Steven Spielberg movie.

Okay. Or one of the worst, at least. So I don't think we need to put it in. Okay. I don't really care about it. I did include on the list the player. So this is an essential cameo. This is sort of... You're going to make a bid for the first ever cameo in the Hall of Fame?

Well, it lands the plane a little bit, doesn't it? It does. I don't want to spoil the film The Player. Yeah. Which we talked about. When did we talk about this movie? Movies about making movies, I think. That's right.

Not for Mank, though. That was movies about Hollywood. I don't know. We've done a lot of think. That's right. Not for Mank, though. That was movies about Hollywood. I don't know. We've done a lot of podcasts. We certainly have. The Player is Robert Altman's comeback masterpiece. And the film concludes

with the actual production of a movie that is a script that is much bandied about during the film. It's an incredible sequence. If people haven't seen it, it's one of the best endings to a movie in the 90s.

So fun. Julie Roberts plays a critical role in it. Yellow. She's in it for like 90 seconds. You said that this was my Hall of Fame. You're right.

So put it in yellow. We'll revisit it. It's in yellow. Also, I mean, spoiler alert, the other Robert Altman film is not going in the Hall of Fame. Without a doubt.

1993, The Pelican Brief. Absolutely green. Absolutely green. I know Bill isn't listening, but make this Brief. Absolutely green. Absolutely green. I know Bill isn't listening, but make this as rewatchable. I think this is the most underrated of Julia Roberts movies, of Grisham adaptations, of 90s studio movies starring Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington solving a crime about the Supreme Court. My one note on this movie is it was an unusual decision to make it 700 hours long. It's so long.

They have to untangle a conspiracy. Okay? Okay. They certainly do. I love Alan Jay Pakula. He is among my favorite filmmakers ever. I would love to do a Pakula episode at some point. I could devote a lot of time to this. This movie

is almost like a self-homage to the movies that he made in the 70s, like Clued and All the President's Men. I got no issue with you putting it in. I just want to note that it just, it takes a long-ass time to get to its conclusion. Sam Shepard? Yeah, he's great. Is the handsome, older law professor living in New Orleans?

We should all be so lucky as to have an affair with Sam Shepard as a law professor. Are you one of those like Sam Shepard's difficult mysteriousness is attractive to me? Who isn't? Are you not? One of the only playwrights I've ever read who made me want to be an actor. It was one of the only times I've been like, maybe I should try to do this. So yeah, I really care about him.

I don't want to have sex with him. Okay, well, that's your loss. Okay. I Love Trouble 1994 nope this is this is Nancy

yeah when you said Nancy Meyers I had blocked this out because I just don't think that this movie co-starring Nick Nolte and it's a sort of you know old school

journalism screwball homage yeah but His Girl Friday it is not no thing. Yeah, but His Girl Friday, it is not. No, it's not. It doesn't work. And actually, on paper, at this time, I think it seemed really promising.

Yeah. Because Nick Nolte and Julia Roberts have a similar kind of gruff, like, I'm not taking any shit, persona in the movies. Didn't work. It just didn't work. Pret-a-porter.

Absolutely not. I tried to re-watch this, and I made it about 45 minutes on the streaming service Tubi or whatever. Hell yeah. Tubi rocks. And I spent a lot of those 45 minutes thinking about, so this film is only available to stream on Tubi because of licensing and yada yada, yada, blah, you know, et cetera. So then I started thinking about how your physical media speech and it's so important so that you can always have access to things like Pret-a-Porter. So first question, do you own Pret-a-Porter? I don't. Right. I don't. Are you going to invest

in it? It is a Robert Altman film that it's hard to access. Altman is really tough. I'm so glad you asked this. What a generous question. It's not asked in a spirit of generosity, just so you know, it's in a spirit of making fun of you. I've got a lot of holes in my Altman collection, despite him being one of my favorites, because I think his ceiling was higher than anybody's, but he made so much junk or so much sort of disposable stuff.

And a lot of that stuff has not, just not been reissued on Blu-ray or even on DVD in some cases. There are a lot of movies, especially in the 80s, that are not available or made for television. Pret-a-Porter was made by a studio. I i think it's available is it paramount plus that is available it was on paramount plus for a while it's no longer on paramount plus that i could tell so

you only found two so like when i go to tubi i always watch movies that are called like satan's claw and they're like really dingy 1978 genre movies and you look you watch the altmans there um i would put it in there just for the sake of completism. You would put it in your DVD collection? Yeah, I would. Okay. I would. So once again, you think it's important for you to be the archivist for...

I don't know. Insane four hour... It's three hours long. It's an Altman film. I do. I do. Can you read the cast for Pret-a-Porter? Yeah, sure.

Because it's bonkers. I mean, I certainly remember quite a few models. It's set in sort of in the world of high fashion. Is it Milan that set it in? No, Paris. Paris, okay. Anouk Aimee, Marcello Mastroianni, Sophia Loren, Kim Basinger, Stephen Ray, Lauren Bacall, Julia Roberts, Tim Robbins, Lily Taylor, Sally Kellerman, Tracy Ullman, Linda Hunt, Rupert Everett, Forrest Whitaker, Richard E. Grant, Danny Aiello, Terry Garn, Lyle Lovett. The list goes on and on.

It is a real like what's happening when the credits are rolling. And then it continues to be like a what's happening. And Kim Basinger is like basically doing, she's like a fashion journalist who's like doing fake Cindy Crawford house of style. But mean, I don't know. No thanks. It's not in the Hall of Fame. That was a lot of time spent on Prada Porto.

Well. It's going red. Yeah. 1995. This is an interesting one. I wanted to hear your opinion about this. Okay. Something to talk about.

Should I have revisited this one? I remember seeing this in theaters. And I also just, I wanted to hear your opinion about this. Something to talk about. Should I have revisited this one? I remember seeing this in theaters. And I also just, I have to tell you, Bonnie Raitt, absolutely. She's probably one of the most important people who's ever lived. I was really nervous because you made a face that I was like, oh no, are you about to?

No, Bonnie Raitt, this album is an all-timer. It's like you're a 90s kid if you think that this album is the most important album of all time. I do believe there is a very good episode of 60 Songs to Explain the 90s about Bonnie Raitt. I can't remember what song he focused on. It might be something to talk about. I thought it was Can't Make You Love Me. You're right. That's what it is.

Which is also all-timer. Another wonderful song. I mean this sincerely. Like, very few artists who got their start in the 70s made good albums in the 70s,

80s, and 90s. Like, it's like Bob Dylan, McCartney. Like, it's vanishingly low. It's true for Bonnie Raitt.

This song, or this movie is, what came first? Was the song written for the film? i don't think so but let's google it right now okay i didn't i i wasn't gonna put this in the hall of fame um so i didn't revisit it um as i recall the premise of this movie is that julie roberts is married to dennis quaid and they split

in the film. Is that right? Is it a film about the end of their relationship and like he like cheats on her or leaves her and then she becomes

like sort of like an independent woman in the face of this the end of this relationship. And it's interesting because she's really young when she makes this movie.

I mean she's not even 30 and she's already taking on these parts and this is not the last time that she would take on a part like this where she's really young when she makes this movie I mean she's not even 30 and she's already taking on these parts and this is not the last time that she would take on a part like this where she's a person who has

like been left or been yeah and it's true it's a little unbelievable especially at this point in her career so for the record Luck of the Draw is 91 oh okay

yeah okay so it is in probably in a way and then written by Callie Curry who you know exactly wrote Thelma and Lee's right right right right um great album seek it out if you've never heard it yeah Okay, so it is probably in a way. And it's written by Callie Curry, who wrote Thelma and Louise. Right, right, right, right.

Great album. Seek it out if you've never heard it. Yeah, this movie does come, though, in sort of like the down period, which is insane to say because she's so young. But, I mean, look at how many movies we've put in the Hall of Fame so far. And she was so big a pretty woman and tries a lot of things and tries to convey it and we have a lot of things that just like flat out don't work so i think at this point she's kind of casting around for anything new that will actually work trying on a lot of different things which sets up the next two films which would you like to say

anything about them uh sure i mean in 1986 she makes mary riley and michael collins yeah which is a bid i think to shed her america's sweetheart kind of identity or at least like refine it and make herself a serious actor michael collins of course is a film about the irish revolutionary and uh mary riley is a reimagining of which famous monster story? I forget. Is it Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? I think so, yes. So she plays sort of like the house servant in the home of Dr. Jekyll.

And it kind of bears witness to the transformations that are taking place. And so it's sort of like a reimagining of that story. Now, all of these movies, these three movies that we're talking about here, are made by really interesting filmmakers. Lassa Hallstrom, who made My Life as a Dog and then went on to be a very big kind of Hollywood filmmaker, makes something to talk about. Michael Collins is directed by Neil Jordan, the great Irish filmmaker, who has been a guest on this show. And Mary Riley is made by Stephen Frears, who's also been a guest on this show. So, again, on paper, a lot of good moves. No.

Something to talk about, I remember being like pretty good. Yeah, I had a nice time. Yeah. The other two, like, you know, for her, she's just wildly miscast. I think in both of them, but especially in Michael Collins. Yes, correct. It's just like, that's I think in both of them, but especially in Michael Collins. Yes, correct. It's just like, that's a period piece set in Ireland. I remember seeing Mary Riley at the age of 11 or 12 at Phipps Plaza in Atlanta.

And I just have to tell you, it's not what a 12-year-old who loved Pretty Woman expected at the movie theater. I was pretty upset. Yeah, yeah, it's tough. Yeah. So those are out. You think something to talk about is out too, or is it yellow? We can put it yellow. I don't think it's going to happen. Okay. I mean, I love Bonnie, but you know, it's just kind of middle of the road. When's the last time you watched a 1996 is everyone says, I love you

last week. I've revisited it. Tell me about it. I mean, so this is a Woody Allen film. So, you know, Woody Allen, whatever's. She also plays the young woman who Woody Allen has a relationship, who's infatuated with and has a relationship with, which is, you know, just some classic Woody Allen dream casting. So that kind of sums it up. This is a movie musical. and all of the movie stars for the most part sing. And I was pretty charmed by that aspect of it.

Very few of them are known as singers as well. Drew Barrymore, Goldie Hawn, Edward Norton, Natasha Lyonne, people you don't think of as singers. Right. So it's sort of Tenenbaums-esque, but if they sang and without any of the emotional heft, it's a trifle. I don't think it goes in Julia Roberts' Hall of Fame. I agree. It was also kind of a bomb. Yeah.

At a time when Woody was coming out of a hugely successful late 80s, early 90s period. And at that time, in hollywood wanted to work with him hence julia roberts taking a part like this not a big movie not not not one of my favorite woody movies either uh okay how about 1997's my best friend's wedding an all-timer maybe the second most green of all the greens i love love this movie. I owned this movie on VHS. I owned the soundtrack to this movie on a CD, which I like played in my little CD player that I had. I don't know. What were we using in 97?

Probably like a four disc changer. I seem to remember Wishing and Hoping being a big part of it. That's the opening credit. The opening titles. And it's like bridesmaids kind of doing like a girl group thing. It was very clever. Also, you know, there's the cover of Rupert Everett sings like I say a little prayer for you. Cameron Diaz famously does bad karaoke in this.

What does she sing? Do you remember? Yes, I do. Oh, it'll come to me. I mean, I can hear her singing it. No, I can't. It's hard to talk to you and make a podcast and also listen to Karen Diaz singing simultaneously, hear her singing. I just don't know what to do

with myself. Yes. Yeah. She is really bad and really charming. This is Julia Roberts playing with the image and the America's Sweetheart version of Julia Roberts for the first time, which she's been trying to shed it. And so she finally figures out how to do that, which is to play the wedding ruiner in a movie. And she plays a 28-year-old food critic, which is, I said that the way that Cameron Diaz says that in their climactic confrontation in the bathroom at the Chicago White Sox Stadium.

I don't know the stadium's actual name. But I... Was it Comiskey Park? Yes, Comiskey Park. Yes, it was. I recognize that from the movie. But she plays a food critic at the age of 28, which when I saw this movie, I thought was so old, who has made a pact with her best friend, played by Dermot Mulroney, and not Dylan McDermott. Correct. Okay, played by Dermot Mulroney, that if they aren't married by the age of 28, they'll marry each other. Just psychotic.

Which is psychotic, and also, I thought, totally reasonable at the age of 15. Didn't seem crazy when I watched it. Yeah. I was 13, I guess. And so, like, right before their 28th birthday, Dermot Marooney calls her and says he's getting married to a 20-year-old

played by Cameron Diaz. All of the ages in this movie are really wild as a grown-up. And so Julia Roberts realizes that she's in love with her best friend and has to break up the wedding.

And she tries her best. And so she's playing a little bit the evil mean mode that like she always kind of had in the toolbox you love this movie yeah she like always had a little bit of it but she still is emotionally vulnerable when she needs to be emotionally vulnerable still is very charming it is a great it plays the idea of the romantic comedy which i always really like um really funny move me a great chicago movie a city i've still never been to but what i don't know i just we never went oh my god but i have seen this movie

enough times that i feel like you know i can recognize chicago in a movie from having watched this film a lot i mean shout out to chicago. Chicago is one of the, this is a dumb thing to say, but really one of the greatest towns. That's so crazy. You got to go there. All right. Okay. Like, let's go. I don't know. Is there like a film festival or something in Chicago that we can, I don't know. I don't know. You want to, you want to raise your Key West film festival note here alive on the podcast? I'm just saying they're having a lot of film critics at the Key West Festival to screen Glass Onion but I have not one of them yet

but you know have you ever been to the Florida Keys? Never been. Lovely. I went in high school with my mom. We had a great time.

We're off track here. My Best Friend's Wedding is an absolute classic. I love this film. If you had to guess how many greens you've named thus far as we go through the whole thing

how many would you say? I'm looking at it right now. Oh, that's too bad. Three. Three. But we're about to go on quite a run. Okay. 1996.

I love My Best Friend's Wedding as well, I'll just say. Okay, good. It might be my favorite Julia Roberts movie. It is. She's really, forgive this, she's so hot in this movie. Yeah, she is. So hot. It's okay, you're allowed to say that.

Okay, all right, I'm saying it. I think it might be my favorite and Pretty Woman is the most important. Okay. If that makes any sense. What'd you think of 1997's Conspiracy Theory? I didn't see this. Was I supposed to have seen this? You never saw it in your life?

No. I was too busy seeing My Best Friend's Wedding over and over again. I think it's unsuccessful ultimately, but kind of an interesting movie and perhaps ahead of its time. Is that stupid to say? I mean, you know, it's got a lot of, well, one, it's a Richard Donner movie. Okay. Reuniting with Mel Gibson after the Lethal Weapon franchise, after one and two of Lethal Weapon. I think maybe before three, though I can't recall. Mel and Julia, who, you know, two people who can, you know, banter really, really well and at the peak of their fame. And Gibson plays a taxi driver

who I think is kind of a, like, YouTube conspiracy theorist before those things existed. Okay. And it turns out that in this one instance, his conspiracy theory is right. Okay.

I can't recall. I think Julia Roberts is at the center of the conspiracy and she, so she is sort of like, comes to rely upon him to help them crack the case. Okay.

I think you should watch it. It's a real relic of its time. Sure. But it ain't bad. But it's not going in. Okay. It was a modest hit, as I recall.

Okay. I can't believe you've never seen that. Like I said, I spent a lot of time on My Best Friend's Wedding. Okay. So that made me

took up all my... Again, I was 13, you know? Do you like Stepmom? Yeah. I think this is a really underrated... I mean, children of divorce movie for sure. Really manipulative and upsetting. I didn't revisit it.

I remember seeing it and having a profound effect. This is also right when my parents were splitting up. Julia Roberts plays the stepmom in question. I know that this is also right when my parents were splitting up. Julia Roberts plays the stepmom in question. I know that this is also a Bill Lodestar. Definitely a yellow for this. But, you know, Julia Roberts is playing sort of the supporting role here, even though she is the titular stepmom. It is Susan Sarandon's show. Yeah. There's a flaw in this film,

which is that I think I want to be married to Susan Sarandon more than Julia Roberts. Really? Yeah, I think so. I think in many ways, Julia Roberts was fortunate to come after Susan Sarandon,

who paved the way for brassy redheads in the movies. I was going to say, it's good, like, consistent casting. Like, the dad, I don't even remember who plays the dad. He has a to say, it's good, like consistent casting. Like the dad, I don't even remember

who plays the dad. He has a type for sure. Okay. Yeah. So. Yeah. It's tough. I mean,

you know, I got a dad who married a younger woman. It's fucking tough, man. It's not easy. It's a very effective movie. It's a Chris Columbus movie.

It's a little like, I'm drunk on how gloopy this is. Yeah. But it's not chris columbus movie it's a it's a little like i'm drunk on how gloopy this is yeah um but it's not terrible yeah uh 1999 nodding hill green okay all-timer i was trying to think juliet and i did our personal top 10 rom-coms when the ringer did its romantic comedies like large project very controversial list I was on leave. I was asked to give some opinions, but I think Knox was, like, three weeks old,

so, like, who can really say? Okay. I do believe that Notting Hill was number two for me, and I think I had three Julia Roberts movies in the top five. So, but Notting Hill at the top of the list. So, I guess Notting Hill is my favorite of the movies. I don't know. Okay.

If you haven't seen this movie, it's Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant written by Richard Curtis. It's about a Julia Roberts style movie star who falls in love with a random guy who owns a travel bookstore. And then it's about how hard it is to be a movie star and what it's like to date her and what it's, you know, whether you can find real love and it's delightful. It's a good movie about movies. I think. As you said, it starts that kind of meta run where she is sort of like actualizing her own fame into the film roles.

I mean, a little bit she's doing it in my best friend's wedding. She is at least commenting on the idea of Julia Roberts. Um, but this literalizes it. 1999 Runaway Bride. This is a reunion with Richard Gere. Yeah. I don't know if I've ever seen this film.

Really? Yeah. I rewatched it. Okay. So this is not good and it's not going in the Hall of Fame. But I was surprised to learn how many times I at least had seen the climactic speech that she gives on a rooftop that Richard Gere's unemployed journalist character has that looks out over Central Park. It's like a studio apartment with a terrace on Central Park. Yeah.

Love to be unemployed and have a terrace. I think it's East Side too. Anyway, that doesn't make any, well, I don't know. That just doesn't make any sense. Love the movies, you know? Suspend your disbelief. The speech that she gives, it's, I mean, it's not up there with I'm just a girl standing in front of a boy, but it has its moments and it's like, and it is really good, Julia Roberts. I will say that. Also, the bit with the eggs is like a very

classic rom-com bit that I remembered, even though I remembered almost nothing else about this movie. She doesn't know how she likes her eggs because she's always liked the eggs the way that her like partner does. But then at the end, she takes some time and she figures out that she likes Eggs Benedict. How do you like your eggs sean do you like eggs i certainly do okay uh i like them scrambled okay um in all forms really i like them scrambled on a sandwich i like them scrambled on my plate um i i i don't hate other preparations yeah but if i had a choice, I would always go scrambled. Okay. What about you?

I like poached eggs. I knew that about you. Yeah. We've been to breakfast together. Yeah. 2000, Erin Brockovich. Absolutely.

Windsor and Oscar. That's it. And it's also the example of, once again, Steven Soderbergh, the greatest director ever to do it and also maybe

my second husband. Just shooting your shot. I slandered Zach earlier earlier so i don't think he's listening at this point um he understands movie stars but this is an example of julia roberts like actually playing another person while also doing all of the julia things that you want her to be and so it's actually character work but also julia it's magical it's kind of one of the Julia things that you want her to be. And so it's actually character work, but also Julia. It's magical. It's kind of one of the rare examples where the person wins the Oscar for like something that makes sense in their career.

You know, you want her. It's also a very like Oscar-y performance and Oscar-y type movie, like based on a real life story of like woman makes good and does good. But with that Soderbergh edge, A plus. And just probably my favorite Oscars acceptance dress. I got to ask you a question. Yeah. One, can you name the four films

for which she's been nominated for Oscars? Pretty Woman, Steel Magnolias, obviously this, and then August Osage County. Well done. Thank you. Thanks so much. Do you think she'll ever be nominated for an Oscar again?

I don't know. I hope so. She doesn't make movies that frequently. Though she is making a movie with Sam Esmail, the adaptation of the Ruman Alam book, which I liked a lot. I'm really excited for that book. I'm excited to talk to Sam about that book. I'm excited to talk about to Sam that book I'm excited to talk to Sam

about Julia Roberts if he'll talk because he's worked with Julia Roberts a lot which just shows that Sam has great taste that will be a topic of conversation I'm sure

this film this podcast has just been set off by so you slammed your head into a wall yes a pole I split my head open

yeah I'm okay we had to cancel on Sam then I got COVID we had to cancel on Sam shout out to Sam. Hopefully he's coming back in November. We're really sorry, Sam. We love you.

Okay. So, Aaron Brockovich, No Brainer. Yeah. One year later, The Mexican. Yeah. He co-stars in Gore Verbinski's kind of daffy crime caper with Brad Pitt. Yeah. And James Gandolfini.

Great, great, great Gandolfini performance in this movie. Your guy, Gore? Yeah, not one of my faves. Okay. This is Gandolfini performance in this movie. Your guy, Gore? Yeah, not one of my faves. Okay. This is not a movie I love. Okay. What about for you? No.

I was going to let you speak about Gore Verbinski. No, I mean, it's another fun example of him, like, jumping from genre to genre. But it's not my favorite. America's Sweetheart, 2001. This is a movie about a press junket. It literally is. It's about a press junket. It literally is. It's about a press junket. And Julia Roberts is playing the sister and personal assistant to Catherine Zeta-Jones's Julia Roberts-esque movie star character.

So it's a rehash of all of what was good about Notting Hill, but not good. Specifically, the press junket. Never forget the horse and hound scene. Also, Julia Roberts' character, her only character development is that she recently lost 60 pounds. This is a no for me. Okay. Fair enough. Yeah.

Ocean's Eleven. Well, let's, I mean, yes, yes, yes. Is there enough tests in this movie for this to be in her Hall of Fame? I mean, I was going to say yes for now. And then when we get to Ocean's 12, you know, I'll do my Braveheart speech. Okay. I'll say it's green for now, but we may need to revisit that. Okay. Because I'm not sure that if you swapped out Julia for another actor in this movie and this movie alone, if it isn't just as good.

It's true that she doesn't get to do very much. If it was Michelle Pfeiffer. Well, sure. Wouldn't it be good? Wouldn't it just be like, oh, great. Michelle Pfeiffer and Andy Garcia, but actually she should be with Clooney. Nice little one fine day reunion. I guess so, but one Fine Day is not very good.

I love One Fine Day. He's so gross in that movie. Yeah, great. It's a real bummer. It's him trying to play against type. But not in a fun way. I was just like, what is this? All right, it's green.

Okay. Full frontal, her big experiment with Steven Soderbergh. We have enough Soderbergh in this. Okay, that's going red. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, kind of a weird role and frankly a favor to my friend George Clooney. This is his directorial debut starring Sam Rockwell. Yeah. That's red.

Oh my God. Here we go. What a stretch. Mona Lisa Smile. Yes. Okay. All right. Okay.

Okay. Okay. I texted you. Zach was out of town and I was like, okay, I'm going to, you know, refresh my memory like 20 minutes of Mona Lisa Smile. I texted you 20 minutes in, like, help, I'm watching Mona Lisa Smile. I watched the whole thing. I've been thinking about Mona Lisa Smile, a not good movie, since I saw it.

And by the way, a not good movie for which Julia Roberts was paid reportedly $25 million. Isn't she not even the star of this film? She, in a way, she is the star of this film. Because here is the rest of the cast. It is Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jennifer Goodwin, Marcia Gay Harden, Dominic West, Topher Grace, our guy Eben Moss-Pakrak. He's thriving right now. He shows up. He is thriving. Lily Robb, Kristen Ritter, John Slattery.

Like, incredible cast. But she is the center. She is the lead. She's like the protagonist. She plays an art teacher, an art history teacher, professor, who comes to Wellesley in the 50s to kind of shake up the minds of these young, super privileged Wellesley girls. Okay. It's absolutely preposterous. She's miscast.

She is, Julia Roberts is wonderful, but as like a hippie, dippy California, but still in the fifties art history teacher who has to like lecture about like the caves of Les Caux or whatever. It's not really like her dead poet society. Yeah, it is um but the lessons of the movie like don't make any sense julia styles's character honestly exists to get into yale law school decline because she wants to get married and then give julia roberts a speech on the front porch about how when all women deserve choices and her choice and what she really wants to do is to like be married to her husband. Okay.

So that's like a real thing. There's also a scene because it's the 50s where they all go on a field trip to some warehouse and a Jackson Pollock painting is unveiled and Julia Roberts says the words

you don't have to like it but you have to consider it. And then she walks out. That's me presenting every movie to you on this podcast. They all just like stare at the, and then there are just like closeups of everyone just like being like, wow, Jackson Pollock, you know, everybody gets their shot. Preposterous movie. I had a fantastic time rewatching it.

And she was paid $25 billion. Hard read. Okay. It's really weird. We have 10 minutes. We have like 12 movies. Are you serious? Do you have another podcast? I have to be somewhere at 1 o'clock. This is not fair!

We are 87 minutes into the podcast. Jesus Christ, Sean, when it's your movies, we have like four hours! What the hell? I didn't know I had to like call a Boogie Nights on this and be like, don't. No one, you did two parts for Boogie Nights. That wasn't my call. When am I going to get to do a Julia Roberts podcast again?

I don't know. Whatever. Okay. Do you have 12 minutes on Closer? Well, I did rewatch Closer. Not to be a prude, this is a really weird movie. Yeah, I think it was believed to be that at the time and continues to be that. Really weird.

And she doesn't get to do that much. That's interesting. I don't know why she wanted this part. I mean, maybe to work with my nickels. Yeah, she's kind of trampled over. It's kind of an odd script. It started as a play. Yeah, it's very play-like.

Okay, it's red. Ocean's Twelve. Yes. I mean, we've talked. I've referenced this so much that if I'm involved with this Hall of Fame, I just have to do it to back up my own. Yeah, I support you. I've referenced this so much that if I'm involved with this Hall of Fame, like I just have to do it to like back up, you know. Yeah, I support you. I'm not going to quibble.

But she does get to do more. And once she is kind of brought into the gang to play, you know, she's Tess playing Julia Roberts. It's just very funny. It's really good stuff. I love it. We did a rewatch of it. It was great.

Great. Three years go by. This is the longest stretch. Sure. Up until this point in her career. She's having a child. I love it. We did a rewatch of Lausanne and it was great. Great. Three years go by. This is the longest stretch up until this point in her career in which she does not make a movie. She's having a family.

Three years go by, she shows up in a supporting role in Charlie Wilson's war as Joanne Herring, a kind of Texas socialite who gets involved in American politics. I like her in the movie.

Is it in the Hall of Fame? No, I don't think so. I think the only person this can be a Hall of Fame for is, it could be a Philip Seymour Hoffman Hall of Fame, but, you know, that's a different conversation. Fireflies in the Garden, I didn't think was a real movie. I Googled it. It is a real movie.

I haven't seen it. What is this? I don't know. I Googled it, but I don't have the tab open right now. This movie stars Ryan Reynolds, Willem Dafoe, Emily Watson, Carrie Ann Moss, Hayden Panettiere, and Julia Roberts. It's written and directed by a man named Dennis Lee.

I don't remember this movie coming out. I don't know what this is. I don't either. It's not in the Hall of Fame. Okay. Duplicity. Speaking of Evan Moss, Bacharach, Andor, and Tony Gilroy.

Yes. Duplicity is underrated I think it's under yes I mean this it's so hard because our standards and expectations for a movie written and directed by Tony Gilroy starring Julia Roberts and Clive Owen as corporate spies who fall in love. Could my expectations be any higher? It should be the best movie of this year. Yes. And it's not.

It's not that. We often get asked in mailbags, like, what's one movie that you would just do over? Or maybe you would do a different cast. Maybe you would do something different. I would do absolutely nothing different. I would have everyone just take another try. Just try again. Just try again.

I love that. Thank you. That's phenomenal. It's not in. No. But I looked on Amazon last night. So I was like, I don't think I own this movie, which is not great. And it was selling for $3.78 on Amazon, on Blu-ray,

which you never see that price point on Blu-ray. So I bought it. We're in a dark period here, and I'm going to go through it very quickly. Okay? Yeah. Valentine's Day. No. I hate these movies.

Me too. I hate the whole structure of, and it's just ripping from Love Actually. The ensemble, Gary Marshall. But it's based on a holiday. I hate all of them. Eat, Pray, Love. I rewatched this this is Ryan Murphy

is it not? yes and an adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert's beloved book have you read this book? no this came out

at a weird time for me and just that I really didn't it was when I was graduating from college and I didn't really need to I thought you were gonna be like I was really into eating or praying

or like a big moment for my love period you know I was a young, insensitive person who was like, I don't care what this old lady like is doing

to try to find herself. I know. So it was, it was jarring then to rewatch it as a person hearing Elizabeth Gilbert's age. This is a very strange

mid-2000s product of like a white woman being like, now I need to go somewhere else to, you know know it's not aged well it was a some cultural tourism and at play correct yeah uh okay it was a hit because it was a i think it was julia roberts yeah yeah 2011 layer crown written and directed by tom hanks

i re-watched this as well wow good for you you really did your homework i i saw it sean that this was a real it's not a good movie. How did this happen? I just want to say I thought I was going to have more time. I did my homework. I prepared. And now you're just out the door. We're on 92nd minute here.

You know what? You're wasting time. William Roberts! God damn it! You're going to get an hour and 40 minutes out of this. I just want to say that that thing you do should be a rewatchables what are you talking about that's a tom hanks movie you just lost your mind written and directed and is really good call bill i don't know what

am i gonna tell you do you got his number uh 2012 mirror mirror no this made me sad she's playing the evil queen it's like have we really gotten there she's like 48 45 you know what's really weird for the vanity fair promo for this movie it's just a convo with her and mike nichols that they just like at mike nichols apartment i think that julia roberts only agreed to promote this movie and who's just talking about how much she loves mike nichols which like same, not that I knew him. Very strange. And then they just like asked Mike Nichols about fairy tales for a minute. It was so weird. Out. Should we be putting August Osage County in the Hall of Fame because she got

an Oscar nomination? Well, then we'd have to put Steel Magnolias in as well. And I don't care. I think you might have to put Steel Magnolias in. You don't know what I'm going to do. Okay, that's true. I guess you're getting ready to put the normal heart in. I'm not. A reunion with Ryan Murphy.

How many do we have right now? One, two, three, four, five, six. Why don't we just finish the list and then we can count everything up. Seven right now. Uh-huh. Okay, plus a couple yellows. Uh-huh.

So you don't know what I'm going to have to do. Keep going. Okay. Didn't know we were on such a time budget. The Normal Heart. No.

Secret in Their Eyes. No. Haven't seen this film. This is a remake. Yeah. Of an international feature. Yeah. No one saw it.

No one saw it. 2016 Mother's Day. I hate these types of movies. Okay, out. 2016, another reunion with George Clooney. Yeah. I rewatched. Money Monster? I rewatched at least 40 minutes of movies. Okay, out. 2016, another reunion with George Clooney. Yeah. I rewatched... Money Monster?

I rewatched at least 40 minutes of this. This is directed by Jodie Foster, by the way. I'm aware. What on earth? And she's just stuck. She's the producer

of the CNBC show. It's not CNBC, but, you know, it's Jim Cramer-esque. And she's just stuck in... This is like... Not the morning show, but she's not even Jen or Reese Witherspoon.

She's stuck in the booth. It's very strange. I don't understand it. 2017 wonder. No, but this made a lot of money. Big hit. Ton of money. No.

It's nice to do something for the family every once in a while. Ben is back 2018. She's incredible in this movie. Do you remember this? We actually have talked about Julia Roberts on this podcast. Wesley came on and we were talking about... I have no recollection of this whatsoever. She is incredibly good in this movie.

Are you putting it in? I kind of might. It's a great twist. It's really affecting. This came out the same time as the Timothee Chalamet. It's about having a son who's addicted to opioids. Right. And it's, the son is played by Lucas Hedges and it's directed by his father.

Peter Hedges, yeah. And so he's home from rehab for a certain amount of time or something. And it's just, it's like a very harrowing story about really what Julia Roberts is trying to do to take care of her son. And I have thought about it a lot. And I think she's absolutely fantastic in it. I think you should just make it green. I'm going to. Just fucking go for it.

That's what I said. And then we come to 2022's Tickets to Paradise. Right. I don't think it needs to go in the Hall of Fame. But I enjoyed it. So I have eight green right now. Bobby Wagner, who likes his eggs over easy, has compiled our long list.

I'm going to walk us through it right now. Okay. Yellow, Mystic Pizza. Yellow, Steel Magnolias. Green, Pretty Woman. Yellow, The Player, which is preposterous. Green, The Pelican Brief. Yellow, Something to Talk About. Green, My Best Friend's Wedding. Yellow, Stepmom. woman yellow the player which is preposterous green the pelican brief yellow something to talk about green my best friend's wedding yellow stepmom and then these are all green nodding

hill aaron brockovich oceans 12 oceans 11 ben is back so we've currently got two four five six eight greens you've got five yellows so you're picking two more greens mystic pizza okay begins the beth and i'm doing the player i don't care what you said if you wanted to debate it you could have left more time for this podcast uh god bless what what do you want to put in no who cares about steel magnolias this is your show i know it got her an oscar nomination but i just she's really really good in the player the long list is mystic pizza pretty woman no the final list is really, really good in the player. The long list is Mystic Pizza, Pretty Woman. No, the final list is Mystic Pizza, Pretty Woman,

The Player, The Pelican Brief, My Best Friend's Wedding, Nodding Hill, Erin Brockovich, Ocean's 11, Ocean's 12, and Ben is back. Yeah, I'm a Julia Roberts scholar. I'd like to congratulate you on your work here today. Thank you. This was a very long pod

that you somehow think is a short pod. Any closing thoughts? I'm glad that she's back. I hope that she keeps making movies, TV shows, whatever she wants to do. Her smile is a source of natural energy, and I love her. Will Tickets to Paradise crack $15 million at the box office? I honestly have no idea. I'm still really upset about Bros. It's already available on VOD. I know, which is honestly smart because I had more conversations with people about, oh, I'm excited for Bros and I feel bad about Bros' box office than I had conversations with people who went to the movies to see Bros. It has huge awareness and it's just a demo of people who don't go to the movies. I honestly think I got to take my friends to this movie.

Thank you again to Universal. And if you hadn't, they may not have all seen it. Yeah, or they would be waiting until it goes to streaming because that's how old people watch things now. Don't call your friends old. Thanks to our producer, Bobby Wagner, who's not old. He's a Julia Roberts-esque 20-something. Next week, boy, speaking of careers, we're going to look at the career of Dwayne The Rock Johnson.

Oh, boy. And the film Black Adam, which will likely be the number one film at the box office. I saw a trailer for that, finally. Because I obviously hadn't clicked play, but I saw a commercial. That's really what that is? That's really what that is. Good luck to you guys. See you then