For a stellar star, Julia Roberts is something of an enigma. She is perpetually accused of starring in mediocre projects designed to reinforce her star power instead of letting her acting skills shine through, and then occasionally she will offer a performance like the newly released August: Osage County, or Erin Brockovich (more of which later) that show exactly why we should probably tolerate her frequent, not quite spectacular missteps. She has attracted plaudits for her role in August: Osage County, and for standing out admirably in a packed field where Serious, Weighty Acting drips liberally from every set and costume, and where it would probably have been very easy to be overcome quickly by the noxious fumes of importance. And all jokes aside, to see Roberts praised for a performance, and not just for trading on her star is remarkably pleasing, given the undeniably sub-par films she has put out recently. If she's not careful, Roberts has the potential to become the female Bruce Willis (or worse, the female Mel Gibson, without the colourful transgressions,) with moments of excellence becoming the sadly rare punctuations between reams of awfulness. But on the back of August: Osage County, hopefully we'll see a newly invigorated version of her, keen on recapturing the highs of her career - such as those collected here - rather than repeating the nasty tasting lows - which are also documented within. So, to celebrate and commiserate on the career to date of Julia Roberts, we're dedicating this week's 5 Awesome... column to the former Mystic Pizza employee who turned to prostitution and eventually became a lawyer...
