With hardly any argument, movies are some of the finest one can get to see. Having achieved stardom with the 1990 comedy ‘Pretty woman,’ she has consistently been one of the best actresses that seem to deliver with every role that comes their way.
Thanks to this, she has a total box office of over 2.8 billion dollars and she was once paid 25 million dollars for her role as Katherine Anne Watson in the 2003 movie ‘Mona Lisa Smile’ which at the time, was the highest an actress ever got in a movie. More so, she has won many awards thus far, including the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, British Academy Film Awards, and many more in a career that has been on since 1987.
Having starred in more than 50 movies in a career that has spanned over three decades, here are 13 of Julia Roberts movies you should see this year.
Finest Julia Roberts Movies
1. Steel Magnolias (1989)
This is a very significant film for Julia Roberts as it is the film that gave the actress her first Golden Globe Awards, only to be followed a year later by Pretty Woman. Also, it gave Robeher her first-ever Academy Awards nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
Still pretty young in her acting career when she took on this role as Shelby Eatenton-Latcherie, she is the daughter of Drum (Tom Skerritt) and M’Lynn Eatenton (). Because of its rather simple storyline that dwells on a group of women in a community and how they manage to deal with the loss of one of them, it is a film that can easily be forgotten. Even at that, the performance of Roberts is one not to be forgotten.
2. Pretty Woman (1990)
This movie shot Julia Roberts to international Fame and won her the Golden Globe awards for best actress and a host of other award nominations.
Roberts plays the role of Vivian Ward, a hooker who is asked by Edward Lewis to be his escort for one week on his business trip. Ward would go on to show some parts of her that are not associated with hookers. In the course of the week, they are all in love. The movie was critically and commercially successful as it was made on a budget of $14 million and it grossed $460 million worldwide.
3. The Pelican Brief (1993)
Based on John Grisham’s 1992 political thriller of the same name, The Pelican Brief is one that tells of the corruption that runs in the American society and shows how even the top political figures can be involved.
Julia Roberts plays the role of Darby Shaw, a brilliant law student whose legal brief about the murder of two supreme judges seems to be more than theory. Having escaped death multiple times, she teams up with columnist Gray Grantham () to know why she is being chased and who wants her dead over a legal brief that is just theory or is it? Her performance in this movie earned her a nomination at the MTV award for best actress for the year 1993.
4. Something to Talk About (1995)
The movie talks about the societal ideals and shifting the culture of marriage, the roles of each partner and their family, separation and the toll it has on the lives of those connected to the marital separation.
In this movie, Julia takes up the persona of Grace Bichon who has caught her husband in an extramarital affair but is expected by her family and society to forgive and stick through the marriage irrespective. Over time she would be questioned over her commitment to the marriage while her parents’ marriage also goes through some challenges.
5. My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997)
Julia Roberts plays the role of Julianne Porter, a young lady that has just been called to be the best woman of the wedding of her best friend. Also in love with the groom, she tries hard to sabotage the engagement so she can have him before it’s too late. In her schemes which are comical, she makes the couple realize that they are really in love after some skepticism about the whole wedding at first. She discovers that the groom isn’t in love with her. She then goes to help convince his fiancee that she should marry her best friend.
Her performance in this movie earned her a golden globe, an MTV Movie award, and a satellite award nomination and she won the Blockbuster award for the favorite actress (comedy) for the year 1997.
6. Stepmom (1998)
Julia Roberts plays the role of Isabel who is Luke’s () new girlfriend after his divorce from Jackie (). Now, her main challenge is to get the kids of Luke and Jackie to like and accept her the same way she likes them.
Roberts won the blockbuster award for the favorite actress category for the year 1998 and was also nominated for the Nickelodeon favorite actress award for her role in this movie.
7. The Runaway Bride (1999)
In this 1999 American romantic comedy, Roberts plays the role of a woman named Maggie Carpenter who is very scared of marriage to a point that she leaves three fiances at the altar. Her fear stems from the many failed relationships that she had.
Now she is set to attempt getting married again for the fourth time, but there is someone else, a journalist who has written a wrong report about her but now seeks to correct the report by locating her. They begin to get too close.
8. Confession of a Dangerous Mind (2002)
Also a biographical film, this is one of Julia Roberts movies based on the fictional life of someone who has claimed to be a former CIA assassin, Chuck Barris. Appearing together with actors like and , Julia Roberts plays the role of Patricia Watson, a mysterious agent who Chuck () meets. The two have an affair, but she may not be all that she is suspected to be.
It was that was first offered this role, but then because of her very tight schedule at the time, it was handed to Roberts.
9. Mona Lisa Smile (2003)
Julia Roberts was paid a whopping 25 million dollars to play her role in this movie. She takes the role of Kathrine Anna Watson, a graduate student who bagged the job of teaching History of Arts in the uber-conservative Wesley college.
The movie builds on the topic of feminism and how ladies are brought up to see various spheres of life from a certain standard and they are not allowed to even think for themselves.
10. Valentine’s Day (2010)
As a movie, Valentine’s Day is not one of the Julia Roberts movies that would get one very much excited. However, like almost always, Roberts delivers with the ease that she has come to be known with.
In this Garry Marshall directed romance comedy, that has actors like Bradley Cooper, , , and more, Julia Roberts (Kate Hazeltine) who is a captain in the U.S. Army meets Holden Wilson as portrayed by , who believes Roberts is really in love to travel long distance to get home for the Valentine’s. But is she?
Her role in the movie earned her a nomination for people’s choice award under the favorite movie actress category in 2010.
11. Eat, Pray and Love (2010)
A romantic comedy-drama film, this is based on the memoir of Elizabeth Gilbert which has the same name. Although it is not the favorite one among critics, it still manages to be a financially successful film with returns of $204.6 million from a budget of $60 million.
In the movie, Roberts portrays Elizabeth Gilbert, a woman who is newly divorced and tries to find a meaning to her life as well as what she really wants from life. She is on a journey, literally and otherwise, to find peace which may just be in prayer, eating, and the true love she finds in Indonesia.
12. Mirror Mirror (2012)
This is a retelling of the popular Brother Gimm’s story, Snow White but with several twists. In this fantasy adventure film, Roberts plays the role of Clementianna, a very beautiful woman who is married to the widowed King () who is the father of Snow White ().
Roberts in this movie tries to lure the prince who is in love with her stepdaughter, Snow White, to fall in love with her because he comes from a very wealthy kingdom. However, she must make sure that snow-white is dead so she remains the fairest in the land. For her performance, Roberts earned a nomination for a favorite villain at the Nickelodeon kids choice award.
13. Ben Is Back (2018)
This is also not a popular movie with critics neither is it the most financially successful film out there. Nonetheless, it has a rather good casting that includes Julia Roberts (Holly Burns-Beeby) and (Ben Burns-Beeby).
In the movie, Holly Burns has to deal with the challenges that come with a son, Ben, who has just made it out of rehabilitation and comes back home to live with her for some time. Happy to see her son and thinking that he has now fixed his ways, things may suddenly go back very wrong again.
