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Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

Watching Confessions of a Dangerous Mind only a few years after its release doesn't dampen its appeal. Though the film, based on the autobiography of the same name, focuses on slimeball game-show host Chuck Barris, Roberts plays a femme fatale named Patricia Watson, meant to distract the host-cum-spy. Her chemistry with Sam Rockwell, as Barris, is never meant to elicit the same kind of sparks that she gets with George Clooney, a co-star in the film and its director, in a movie like Ocean's Eleven. Instead, Roberts plays the haughty card here very well, constantly getting involved with Barris but always seeming above it all, only doing it for a bit of fun. Though she ends up being a complete double-crosser, we never completely deny that she had some feelings for the lowlife Barris or...at least, she fooled everyone. What's more, Roberts being in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind fits perfectly, as it's hard to ignore the obvious influence that Steven Soderbergh's directorial style had on Clooney, also a regular in Soderbergh's work. Nowadays, common styles and actors are only found in Judd Apatow movies, but only a few years back, people like Clooney, Soderbergh, and Roberts were appearing in each other's work.

Erin Brockovich

Which brings us to Roberts' Academy Award-winning title role in Soderbergh's 2000 drama with Albert Finney (who showed up in Ocean's Twelve, how about that?) as an outspoken and brash woman who becomes a legal assistant uncovering a major water pollution scandal in California. Since the story is so amazing, it is, of course, a true story. One of the reasons that Roberts' performance works so well here, is so funny, so emotional, and so moving, is that it's shocking. Oh, a big deal was made about the clothes Roberts wore for the film, showing off her cleavage and other skin, but the word "brash" wasn't really associated with her previous roles. Bucking expectations, she conquers the movie with a tour-de-force performance that was more than worthy of the Oscar she won (though I could have done without the speech being repeated at the most recent Oscar ceremony); to be fair, the strongest aspect of the film has always been the snarky byplay between Roberts and Finney, feisty versus stuffy. The odd-couple pairing isn't unique to Erin Brockovich, but the two make it work, leading to a slickly entertaining legal drama.

Conspiracy Theory

It's been just over a decade since "Conspiracy Theory" made its way into theaters, but oh, how things have changed. A decade ago, the pairing of Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts was destined to soar, especially with skilled action director Richard Donner at the helm. What's more, the movie had Gibson playing against type as a completely deranged nut who just happened to be right about one particularly dangerous conspiracy and snared a Justice Department attorney named Alice Sutton into a fast-paced chase against Jean-Luc Picard. Okay, Patrick Stewart, but you know what I mean. Either way, the movie had plenty of action even if Gibson spent most of the film as a gibbering lunatic; though most movies with such a romantic pairing would have Roberts in Gibson's arms and bed quickly, her grudging acceptance of his looney theories makes for a far more interesting relationship. Conspiracy Theory isn't one of the movies that Roberts is remembered for and won't likely to be shown at her lifetime achievement ceremony, but it's definitely a worthy and underrated movie.

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