Welcome to The B-Side! Here we talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between.

Today we discuss America’s Sweetheart: Julia Roberts! Our B-Sides include: I Love Trouble, America’s Sweethearts, Full Frontal, and Larry Crowne. Our lovely guest is Joe Reid of Vulture and the This Had Oscar Buzz podcast.

We discuss Julia’s frequent career peaks and valleys, that ridiculous People Magazine cover in 1993, the tumultuous production of I Love Trouble, and the aftermath of a difficult Hook shoot.

There’s talk of the giant comeback that was My Best Friend’s Wedding and Julia’s knowing, clever subversion of the rom-com leading character in it. We make time for the rise and fall of Revolution Studios, Joe Roth’s passion project that had a tumultuous first seven years.

Scooter gangs and the 2008 Recession come up in talking about Larry Crowne (naturally), and there’s debate over how successful Julia has been over these last couple of decades in her “legend era.”