(Photo by Warner Bros. / courtesy Everett Collection)
All Julia Roberts Movies, Ranked by Tomatometer
It didn’t take long for Julia Roberts to become America’s de facto sweetheart – literally, she made a movie called America’s Sweethearts in 2001 – after starting out with Mystic Pizza and Steel Magnolias in the late-1980s. Those breakouts set the stage for Pretty Woman, the inescapable rom-com phenom that guaranteed all her movie choices for the rest on the ’90s would make headlines. These included thrillers like The Pelican Brief, Conspiracy Theory, and I Love Trouble; major directorial collaborations with the likes of Steven Spielberg (Hook) and Robert Altman (Ready to Wear); and more hits in the romantic-comedy space, with Notting Hill, My Best Friend’s Wedding, and Runaway Bride, which re-united Roberts with her Pretty Woman co-star Richard Gere.
In 2000, you could pinpoint a full pivot into drama with Erin Brockovich (which won Roberts the Best Actress Oscar), leading to Full Frontal, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Mona Lisa Smile, and Closer. Things got a little lighter over the past decade, as Roberts showed up for Eat Pray Love, and worked with Tom Hanks in his starring-and-directing vehicle Larry Crowne. (They had previously acted in Mike Nichols’ final film Charlie Wilson’s War.)
This career shift, mixed heavier material, has proven fruitful, as she’s had a string of Certified Fresh dramas including The Normal Heart, Wonder, and Ben is Back. Her latest Oscar nomination came through with 2016’s August: Osage Country, adapted by Tracy Letts from his Broadway play. And now we’re ranking all Julia Roberts movies by Tomatometer! —Alex Vo
#1
Adjusted Score: 95538%
Critics Consensus: Thanks to Emmy-worthy performances from a reputable cast, The Normal Heart is not only a powerful, heartbreaking drama, but also a vital document of events leading up to and through the early AIDS crisis.
Synopsis: In 1980s New York, a writer (Mark Ruffalo) and his friends join forces to expose the truth about the emerging...
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#2
Adjusted Score: 96142%
Critics Consensus: Wonder doesn't shy away from its bestselling source material's sentiment, but this well-acted and overall winsome drama earns its tugs at the heartstrings.
Synopsis: Born with facial differences that, up until now, have prevented him from going to a mainstream school, Auggie Pullman becomes...
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#3
Adjusted Score: 90996%
Critics Consensus: Taking full advantage of Julia Roberts's considerable talent and appeal, Erin Brockovich overcomes a few character and plot issues to deliver a smart, thoughtful, and funny legal drama.
Synopsis: Erin Brockovich (Julia Roberts) is a woman in a tight spot. Following a car accident in which Erin is not...
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#4
Adjusted Score: 89058%
Critics Consensus: A rom-com with the right ingredients, Notting Hill proves there's nothing like a love story well told -- especially when Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts are your leads.
Synopsis: William Thacker (Hugh Grant) is a London bookstore owner whose humdrum existence is thrown into romantic turmoil when famous American...
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#5
Adjusted Score: 89841%
Critics Consensus: As fast-paced, witty, and entertaining as it is star-studded and coolly stylish, Ocean's Eleven offers a well-seasoned serving of popcorn entertainment.
Synopsis: Dapper Danny Ocean (George Clooney) is a man of action. Less than 24 hours into his parole from a New...
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#6
Adjusted Score: 92893%
Critics Consensus: Refreshingly understated, Ben Is Back subverts family drama stereotypes - and provides a forum for terrific performances from Lucas Hedges and Julia Roberts.
Synopsis: Nineteen-year-old Ben Burns unexpectedly returns to his family's suburban home on Christmas Eve. Ben's mom, Holly, is relieved and welcoming...
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#7
Adjusted Score: 90181%
Critics Consensus: Charlie Wilson's War manages to entertain and inform audiences, thanks to its witty script and talented cast of power players.
Synopsis: In the 1980s U.S.Rep. Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks), Texas socialite Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts) and CIA agent Gust Avrakotos (Philip...
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#8
Adjusted Score: 84460%
Critics Consensus: Rockwell is spot-on as Barris, and Clooney directs with entertaining style and flair.
Synopsis: Game show television producer Chuck Barris (Sam Rockwell) is at the height of his career. His creation, The Dating Game,...
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#9
Adjusted Score: 84790%
Critics Consensus: Kids will be entertained by the straightforward plot and cute animals, and adults will be charmed by how quiet and humble the production is, a fine translation of E.B. White's genteel prose.
Synopsis: After learning that a young pig's days are numbered, a literate spider (Julia Roberts) weaves an elaborate plan to save...
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#10
Adjusted Score: 80992%
Critics Consensus: As impressively ambitious as it is satisfyingly impactful, Michael Collins honors its subject's remarkable achievements with a magnetic performance from Liam Neeson in the title role.
Synopsis: In the early 20th century, Michael Collins (Liam Neeson) leads the Irish Republican Army with the help of his friends...
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#11
Adjusted Score: 77701%
Critics Consensus: Thanks to a charming performance from Julia Roberts and a subversive spin on the genre, My Best Friend's Wedding is a refreshingly entertaining romantic comedy.
Synopsis: Childhood friends Julianne Potter (Julia Roberts) and Michael O'Neal (Dermot Mulroney) had a deal to marry each other if they...
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#12
Adjusted Score: 79513%
Critics Consensus: A likable, infectious musical, Woody Allen's Everyone Says I Love You is sometimes uneven but always toe-tapping and fun.
Synopsis: The daughter of wealthy Manhattanites Joe (Woody Allen) and Steffi (Goldie Hawn), D.J. (Natasha Lyonne) has to contend with her...
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#13
Adjusted Score: 79715%
Critics Consensus: Mystic Pizza is like its namesake food: it's cheesy, topped with romance, and rises to the occasion.
Synopsis: Mystic Pizza charts the lives and loves of three unforgettable waitresses in a little town called Mystic. For sexy Daisy...
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#14
Adjusted Score: 73936%
Critics Consensus: Closer's talented cast and Mike Nichols' typically assured direction help smooth a bumpy journey from stage to screen.
Synopsis: Alice (Natalie Portman), an American stripper who has moved to London, meets Dan (Jude Law) on the street. While looking...
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#15
Adjusted Score: 80366%
Critics Consensus: Steel Magnolias has jokes and characters to spare, which makes it more dangerous (and effective) when it goes for the full melodrama by the end.
Synopsis: M'Lynn (Sally Field) is the mother of bride-to-be Shelby Eatenton (Julia Roberts), and as friend Truvy Jones (Dolly Parton) fixes...
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#16
Adjusted Score: 76419%
Critics Consensus: The sheer amount of acting going on in August: Osage County threatens to overwhelm, but when the actors involved are as talented as Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts, it's difficult to complain.
Synopsis: The death and funeral of their father brings three sisters to the home of their mother, Violet (Meryl Streep), an...
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#17
Adjusted Score: 72543%
Critics Consensus: Duplicity is well-crafted, smart, and often funny, but it's mostly more cerebral than visceral and features far too many plot twists.
Synopsis: Claire Stenwick (Julia Roberts) and Ray Koval (Clive Owen) are former government operatives who are now collecting big paychecks from...
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#18
Adjusted Score: 70163%
Critics Consensus: Pretty Woman may be a yuppie fantasy, but the film's slick comedy, soundtrack, and casting can overcome misgivings.
Synopsis: A prostitute and a wealthy businessman fall for one another, forming an unlikely pair; while on a business trip in...
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#19
Adjusted Score: 65358%
Critics Consensus: Sometimes inventive and witty, this animated adventure into an ant-sized world is a pleasant diversion.
Synopsis: Tired of weathering constant attacks on their colony, ants shrink a destructive boy, named Lucas (Zach Tyler Eisen), to their...
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#20
Adjusted Score: 72489%
Critics Consensus: Money Monster's strong cast and solidly written story ride a timely wave of socioeconomic anger that's powerful enough to overcome an occasionally muddled approach to its worthy themes.
Synopsis: Lee Gates is a Wall Street guru who picks hot stocks as host of the television show "Money Monster." Suddenly,...
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#21
Adjusted Score: 59391%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: New York City cabbie Jerry Fletcher (Mel Gibson) is an expert on paranoid conspiracy theories. He is also infatuated with...
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#22
Adjusted Score: 69302%
Critics Consensus: Ticket to Paradise may not send viewers all the way to the promised land, but this reunion for a pair of megawatt stars is still an agreeably frothy good time.
Synopsis: Academy Award® winners George Clooney and Julia Roberts reunite on the big screen as exes who find themselves on a shared mission...
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#23
Adjusted Score: 61173%
Critics Consensus: While some have found the latest star-studded heist flick to be a fun, glossy star vehicle, others declare it's lazy, self-satisfied and illogical.
Synopsis: After successfully robbing five casinos in one night, Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and his crew of thieves have big problems....
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#24
Adjusted Score: 58673%
Critics Consensus: Though The Mexican makes a good attempt at originality, its ponderous length makes it wear out its welcome. Also, those looking forward to seeing Roberts and Pitt paired up may end up disappointed, as they are kept apart for most of the movie.
Synopsis: Brad Pitt stars as Jerry Welbach, a reluctant bagman, who has been given two ultimatums: The first is from his...
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#25
Adjusted Score: 58887%
Critics Consensus: Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington are a compelling team in the overlong Pelican Brief, a pulpy thriller that doesn't quite justify the intellectual remove of Alan J. Pakula's direction.
Synopsis: Taut thriller about a young law student whose legal brief about the assassination of two Supreme Court justices causes her...
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#26
Adjusted Score: 54089%
Critics Consensus: While it boasts an impressive cast, striking visuals, and an effective mood, Flatliners never quite jolts its story to life.
Synopsis: Seeking answers about the afterlife, Chicago medical student Nelson (Kiefer Sutherland) persuades his fellow pupils to help him end his...
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#27
Adjusted Score: 59161%
Critics Consensus: Like most of Tarsem Singh's films, Mirror Mirror is undeniably beautiful -- but its treatment of the age-old Snow White fable lacks enough depth or originality to set it apart from the countless other adaptations of the tale.
Synopsis: Snow White (Lily Collins), an orphaned princess, is the rightful ruler of her kingdom, but a jealous, evil queen (Julia...
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#28
Adjusted Score: 49511%
Critics Consensus: Solid work from Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon isn't enough to save Stepmom from a story whose manipulations dilute the effectiveness of a potentially affecting drama.
Synopsis: Three years after divorcing Jackie (Susan Sarandon), the mother of his children, Luke Harrison (Ed Harris) decides to take the...
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#29
Adjusted Score: 49972%
Critics Consensus: Cliche story with lack of chemistry between Richard Gere and Julia Roberts.
Synopsis: Having already left three grooms at the altar, Maggie Carpenter (Julia Roberts) is branded "the runaway bride" by jaded city...
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#30
Adjusted Score: 20114%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: After graduating from high school, Jennie Lee (Justine Bateman) and her rock-'n'-roll band, the Mystery, head to Florida to audition...
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#31
Adjusted Score: 45786%
Critics Consensus: Secret in Their Eyes wastes its incredible cast on a remake that fails to improve upon -- or even make a compelling case for its own existence in addition to -- the remarkable original.
Synopsis: Rising FBI investigators Ray (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Jess (Julia Roberts), along with Claire (Nicole Kidman), their district-attorney supervisor, are suddenly...
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#32
Adjusted Score: 43677%
Critics Consensus: An confusing movie made worse by the poor camera work.
Synopsis: "Full Frontal" is a contemporary comedy and the unofficial sequel to "Sex, Lies, and Videotape." Linda would love to be...
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#33
Adjusted Score: 34792%
Critics Consensus: Small-town gossip and a battle of the sexes should really add up to more than Something to Talk About, especially with this much talent before the camera.
Synopsis: Grace Bichon, who is managing her father's riding-stable, discovers that her husband Eddie is deceiving her with another woman. After...
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#34
Adjusted Score: 43846%
Critics Consensus: Despite the relaxed, easy chemistry of stars Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, Larry Crowne is surprisingly bland and conventional.
Synopsis: Once well-respected at his company, Larry Crowne (Tom Hanks) finds himself on the unemployment line after a wave of corporate...
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#35
Adjusted Score: 43408%
Critics Consensus: The scenery is nice to look at, and Julia Roberts is as luminous as ever, but without the spiritual and emotional weight of the book that inspired it, Eat Pray Love is too shallow to resonate.
Synopsis: Liz Gilbert (Julia Roberts) thought she had everything she wanted in life: a home, a husband and a successful career....
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#36
Adjusted Score: 38008%
Critics Consensus: Though Mona Lisa Smile espouses the value of breaking barriers, the movie itself is predictable and safe.
Synopsis: Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts) is a recent UCLA graduate hired to teach art history at the prestigious all-female Wellesley College,...
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#37
Adjusted Score: 38132%
Critics Consensus: Despite its famous cast, the movie lacks sympathetic characters and is only funny in spurts.
Synopsis: For an awkward, self-conscious girl like Kiki (Julia Roberts), being the personal assistant to a beautiful megastar like Gwen (Catherine...
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#38
Adjusted Score: 34498%
Critics Consensus: The look of Hook is lively indeed but Steven Spielberg directs on autopilot here, giving in too quickly to his sentimental, syrupy qualities.
Synopsis: When his young children are abducted by his old nemesis, Capt. Hook (Dustin Hoffman), middle-aged lawyer Peter Banning (Robin Williams)...
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#39
Adjusted Score: 28434%
Critics Consensus: The movie looks good and has its moments. But, overall, the movie borders on boredom.
Synopsis: A maid at the household of noted physician Dr. Henry Jekyll (John Malkovich), Mary Reilly (Julia Roberts) admires her employer,...
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#40
Adjusted Score: 22004%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: During Paris Fashion Week, models, designers and industry hot shots gather to work, mingle, argue and try to seduce one...
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#41
Adjusted Score: 22337%
Critics Consensus: Despite boasting a stellar cast, Fireflies in the Garden is just tedious, dull and predictable melodrama. Instantly forgettable.
Synopsis: Successful novelist Michael (Ryan Reynolds) visits his family in the Midwest, only to learn that his mother, Lisa (Julia Roberts),...
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#42
Adjusted Score: 27999%
Critics Consensus: Dying's easy; it's making audiences care about the romance at the heart of this inert drama that proves difficult.
Synopsis: Answering an ad for an "attractive female" to care for a sick young man, Hilary (Julia Roberts) becomes the caretaker...
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#43
Adjusted Score: 26799%
Critics Consensus: A game Julia Roberts gives it her all, but Sleeping with the Enemy is one stalker thriller that's unlikely to inspire many obsessions of its own.
Synopsis: After faking her death in order to flee from her violent husband, Martin (Patrick Bergin), Laura Burney (Julia Roberts) leaves...
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#44
Adjusted Score: 25503%
Critics Consensus: Eager to please and stuffed with stars, Valentine's Day squanders its promise with a frantic, episodic plot and an abundance of rom-com cliches.
Synopsis: In a series of interconnected stories, various Los Angeles residents (Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper) wend their way through...
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#45
Adjusted Score: 15015%
Critics Consensus: Arguably well-intended yet thoroughly misguided, Mother's Day is the cinematic equivalent of a last-minute gift that only underscores its embarrassing lack of effort.
Synopsis: Sandy (Jennifer Aniston) is a stressed-out, single mom who learns that her ex-husband is marrying a younger woman. Her friend...
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94%
78%
59%
