--- ---  # Julia Roberts on Why She's Done With Romantic Comedies  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Oct 22, 2018 6:30 PM UTC  American actress Julia Roberts attends the premiere of film 'Ben is Back' during the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2018 in Toronto, Canada. American actress Julia Roberts attends the premiere of film 'Ben is Back' during the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2018 in Toronto, Canada.China News Service—VCG via Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Oct 22, 2018 6:30 PM UTC Julia Roberts has been the face of some of the most popular romantic comedies of all time. (Hello, [_Notting Hill_](http://time.com/5087693/moonlight-director-barry-jenkins-live-tweets-notting-hill/) and _Runaway Bride_.) But a few decades on, the actress who made [_Pretty Woman_](http://time.com/3745374/pretty-woman-julia-roberts/) has no plans to step back into a role in the popular genre. It’s not that she doesn’t like rom-coms, Roberts [told _Entertainment Tonight;_](https://www.etonline.com/julia-roberts-explains-why-she-shouldnt-star-in-rom-coms-anymore-exclusive-112020) it’s that she doesn’t think they “work” for her now. “There came a point in my career where people thought I had turned on romantic comedies, which—I love them, I love to be in them, I love to watch them,” Roberts said. “But sometimes, they just don’t work at a certain point of life experience… unless we \[play\] the parents of the people that are rom-com-ing.” Roberts seems to believe that an element of youth might need to be involved to make the hijinks of a classic rom-com seem believable to the audience. “It’s not about age, it’s just about what people know that you know,” she said. Of late, Roberts has focused on more serious fare in her career, with the upcoming dramatic thriller TV series [_Homecoming_](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7008682/?ref%5F=nm%5Fflmg%5Fact%5F2) and winter release of family drama [_Ben Is Back_,](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7545524/?ref%5F=nm%5Fflmg%5Fact%5F3) costarring Lucas Hedges, in which Roberts plays a mom keeping her family together. Meanwhile, the rom-com is having something of a renaissance, with recent movies like[ _To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before_](http://time.com/5368864/to-all-the-boys-ive-loved-before/)_,_ [_Crazy Rich Asians_](http://time.com/5385421/crazy-rich-asians-box-office-labor-day/) and [_Set It Up_](http://time.com/5375684/rom-com-revival/)getting warm reviews and winning starry-eyed fans. But Roberts may have a point; this new crop of stories does tend to focus on younger characters. Julia Roberts on Why She's Done With Romantic Comedies ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5431107/julia-roberts-rom-coms/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5431107/julia-roberts-rom-coms/"},"headline":"Julia Roberts on Why She's Done With Romantic Comedies","datePublished":"2018-10-22T18:30:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:55:34.455Z","description":"She's still a fan of the genre","url":"https://time.com/5431107/julia-roberts-rom-coms/","keywords":["Newsfeed","movies","celebrities"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd2f495943a7801b/69893d2c457a521abdd5fb0c/julia-roberts.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd2f495943a7801b/69893d2c457a521abdd5fb0c/julia-roberts.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2018 Toronto International Film Festival","caption":"2018 Toronto International Film Festival","creditText":"China News Service—VCG via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5431107/julia-roberts-rom-coms/","name":"Julia Roberts on Why She's Done With Romantic Comedies"}}]}] ```