The Worst Julia Roberts Movies of All Time, According to Critics

julia roberts in money monster

She’s won multiple awards, created iconic characters, and been the romantic lead in enough movies to earn her the title of “America’s sweetheart.” Julia Roberts is easily one of the most famous and adored actors of all time, with memorable performances in films like Pretty Woman, Erin Brockovich, and My Best Friend’s Wedding. But when you’ve starred in as many movies as she has over the course of more than three decades, they’re not all bound to be winners. So what are the worst Julia Roberts movies ever made?

We consulted Rotten Tomatoes for a ranked list of every Julia Roberts movie, then looked for each “rotten” (under 60 percent) entry. These are the films that the critics panned despite Roberts’ considerable star power. You might be surprised to see some of your favorites on the list. Read on discover her worst film, from the just OK to the truly terrible.

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Sony Pictures Releasing

Rotten Tomatoes score: 59 percent

“Even professionals sometimes take a loss, and that’s what Money Monster ultimately feels like: an investment that doesn’t quite pay off,” writes Jen Chaney for Uproxx.

julia roberts in conspiracy theory
Warner Bros.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 57 percent

“The film starts to sour after 20 minutes,” writes Mick LaSalle for the San Francisco Chronicle.

george clooney and julia roberts in ticket to paradise
Universal Pictures

Rotten Tomatoes score: 57 percent

“If [George] Clooney and Roberts are both wonderful actors, at this point they’re just not that good together, at least not in this setup,” writes Stephanie Zacharek for Time.

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julia roberts in ocean's twelve
Warner Bros. Pictures

Rotten Tomatoes score: 55 percent

Ocean’s Twelve is busier, messier and thinner than its predecessor, and while it looks like the cast is having a blast and a half, the studied hipness can get so pleased with itself it borders on the smug,” writes David Ansen for Newsweek.

julia roberts in the mexican
DreamWorks Pictures

Rotten Tomatoes score: 54 percent

“Promises a road movie of blissful comic romance and delivers a series of dramatic dead ends,” writes Peter Travers for Rolling Stone (via Rotten Tomatoes).

julia roberts in the pelican brief
Warner Bros.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 54 percent

“As the film piles on shovelfuls of further exposition, [Denzel Washington] and Ms. Roberts are left to look terrific and recite perfunctory lines,” writes Janet Maslin for The New York Times (via Rotten Tomatoes).

julia roberts in flatliners
Columbia Pictures

Rotten Tomatoes score: 51 percent

The movie’s problem, like many others recently, is that it isn’t any deeper, dramatically or psychologically, than its own trailer. It is the trailer: the long version,” writes Michael Wilmington for the Los Angeles Times.

julia roberts in mirror mirror
Relativity Media

Rotten Tomatoes score: 50 percent

“You’ll laugh intermittently, but more often, you’ll notice where you’re supposed to be laughing and aren’t,” writes Tim Grierson for Gawker (via Rotten Tomatoes).

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julia roberts in stepmom
Sony Pictures Releasing

Rotten Tomatoes score: 46 percent

“A cartoonish two-hour-plus soap opera of little distinction, played by actors who deserve better and should have known better,” writes John Hartl for the Seattle Times.

julia roberts in runaway bride
Paramount Pictures

Rotten Tomatoes score: 46 percent

Runaway Bride is an atrocious bit of by-the-numbers screen filler,” writes Ernest Hardy for Film.com (via Rotten Tomatoes).

julia roberts in satisfaction
20th Century Fox

Rotten Tomatoes score: 40 percent

“The only satisfaction I got out of the bad movie Satisfaction was that I was no worse for wear having to endure such awful tunes,” writes Dennis Schwartz for Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews.

julia roberts in secret in their eyes
STXfilms

Rotten Tomatoes score: 39 percent

“You just keep waiting for it to take flight, for some clue as to why these talented people are spinning their wheels with such subpar material,” writes Jason Bailey for Flavorwire.

julia roberts in full frontal
Miramax Films

Rotten Tomatoes score: 39 percent

“A boring, amateurish, incomprehensible and stupefyingly pretentious pile of swill,” writes Rex Reed for the Observer (via Rotten Tomatoes).

julia roberts in something to talk about
Warner Bros.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 39 percent

“Everything about Something to Talk About feels off by a few beats,” writes Mike Clark for USA Today (via Rotten Tomatoes).

julia roberts and tom hanks in larry crowne
Universal Pictures

Rotten Tomatoes score: 37 percent

“Neither fish nor fowl, Larry Crowne skitters between pathos and shtick, wasting abundant acting talent as it goes,” writes Ella Taylor for NPR.

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julia roberts in eat pray love
Sony Pictures Releasing

Rotten Tomatoes score: 36 percent

“A tiresome, humourless, lifeless, overlong dirge in which the lofty pretention to say something deep about the quest for self and the female condition all gets blown away by an insipid, off-the-shelf romantic-movie ending,” writes Jim Schembri for The Age.

julia roberts in mona lisa smile
Sony Pictures Releasing

Rotten Tomatoes score: 34 percent

Devoid of enjoyment, intelligence or interest,” writes Nev Pierce for the BBC.

julia roberts in america's sweethearts
Columbia Pictures / Getty Images

Rotten Tomatoes score: 32 percent

“The film isn’t just banal, it’s aggressively, arrogantly banal,” writes Manohla Dargis for L.A. Weekly (via Rotten Tomatoes).

julia roberts in hook
TriStar Pictures

Rotten Tomatoes score: 29 percent

“This enormous wheeze comes over like the proverbial movie with a 40 million dollar set and a five cent script, which may hold its interest for under-fives but will leave most others cold,” writes Angie Errigo for Empire (via Rotten Tomatoes).

julia roberts in mary reilly
TriStar Pictures

Rotten Tomatoes score: 26 percent

“It’s a slight, moribund bugaboo, a bump in the night, and then nothing,” writes Marc Savlov for the Austin Chronicle.

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julia roberts in ready to wear
Miramax Films

Rotten Tomatoes score: 24 percent

“Despite some delicious moments, this sluggish, overlong, halfhearted satire feels like a movie that wanted to go somewhere but never got there,” writes James Berardinelli for ReelViews.

julia roberts in fireflies in the garden
Senator Entertainment Inc.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 23 percent

“This histrionic family drama must have looked good on paper to attract such a big-name cast, but on the screen it comes off as glib, rushed, and underdeveloped,” writes J.R. Jones for the Chicago Reader.

julia roberts in dying young
20th Century Fox

Rotten Tomatoes score: 23 percent

“Will someone please, please, write a part for Julia Roberts and not be happy just to look at her?” writes Carrie Rickey for the Philadelphia Inquirer (via Rotten Tomatoes).

julia roberts in sleeping with the enemy
20th Century Fox

Rotten Tomatoes score: 19 percent

“Roberts evokes sympathy, not just for playing the victim of an unforgivably bad husband, but for becoming the victim of an unforgivably bad movie,” writes Brian D. Johnson for Maclean’s.

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julia roberts in valentine's day
Warner Bros. Pictures

Rotten Tomatoes score: 18 percent

“It forgets to pause and consider what romance is really about and it’s not about trying to be the new Love Actually,” writes Anna Smith for Metro.

julia roberts in mother's day
Open Road Films

Rotten Tomatoes score: 8 percent

“Even if stars Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts and Kate Hudson are mom’s all-time favorites, don’t subject her to this cloying, plotless dose of saccharine unless she’s done you wrong,” writes Sandy Cohen for the Associated Press (via Rotten Tomatoes).

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