• She's Still Got It

  Posted Thursday, February 12, 2009 12:14 PM | By Willa Paskin
  
  
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  The New York Times just ran a piece about Julia Roberts, who's coming out of self-imposed semiretirement in March with Duplicity, a comedic caper co-starring grizzly man Clive Owen. Roberts has been taking it relatively easy since 2001, in which time Hollywood suits have been desperately, futilely searching for the "Next Julia Roberts" (all they've found are various Witherspoons, Heigls, Garners, Adams, and Hathaways): Have audiences missed her as much? The Times' story floats a tentative yes, quoting one of the film's producers as saying the audience goodwill for Roberts "is just so clearly there ... I don't know how we know it, but we do."
  
  That sounds about right to me. Maybe that's because, as the Times puts it, Roberts has successfully left audiences wanting more; maybe that's because I still really, really love Pretty Woman (my bad?). Roberts strikes me as a movie star who still makes sense—what was appealing about her in her heyday she still has (which boils down, in her case, basically to that smile), and even more importantly, it still seems appealing.  As a counter-example (a movie star who no longer makes sense), think about Arnold Schwarzenegger. Even if he wasn't busy governing, he wouldn't have a blooming film career: What was appealing about him at his peak (something like, very macho, life-saving-yet-kindhearted muscles) he still has (if they're a little deflated), but they couldn't woo audiences anymore: We've moved onto schlubs, twerps, and pretty boys, not a muscle-bound or heavily accented action hero among them.
  
  At least I can remember what was once charming about Ahnold. What about the formerly appealing movie stars whose former appeal is now totally inexplicable? I got a real brain cramp watching Renee Zellweger totter around in a mermaid's mourning garb at this year's Golden Globes: How had I ever found her anything less than 100 percent unhinged and annoying? Then Jerry Maguire and Bridget Jones nudged their way into my consciousness, and I had to admit to myself, I liked her once. Damned if I could remember why.
  
  
  Filed under: Julia Roberts, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Movie stars, Renee Zellwegger
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