Julia Roberts Movie:

Editorial Review:
This well-intentioned but strangely cold tale concerns an emotionally repressed Southern belle (Julia Roberts) who separates from her husband (Dennis Quaid) after discovering he is an unabashed philanderer. Pressed by her dominating father (Robert Duvall) into reconciling with her spouse, Roberts's character chafes against so much male control over her destiny. Defended by a fiercely independent sister (a catchy performance by Kyra Sedgwick), the heroine develops the nerve to plot her own course in life while her mother (Gena Rowlands) finds the gumption to throw her own mate out of the house. The script by Callie Khouri (Thelma & Louise) is intelligent but hardly clear, and direction by Lasse Hallström (Once Around) can't keep Khouri's unfocused scenes and uncertain purpose from dissolving like sand castles in the rain. --Tom Keogh

Something to Talk About [Region 2] Reviews:
My Favorite Julia Roberts Movie
2008-09-14 - I may be in the minority on this one, but this is my favorite Julie Roberts movie. Maybe it is my love of the South or my love of horses, but I find this movie to be funny and charming and pure southern family all rolled into one. Kyra Sedwick as Julie's sister is right on. They look so much alike that I am amazed that they are not sisters. Kyra has some of the best lines in the movie. I am also a big Gena Rowlands fan as well as Robert Duval. The girl that played the daughter is sweet and charming as well as the woman who played Julia's aunt. Sooo funny!!
Anyway that is it in a nutshell......great movie!

Avoid this film
2008-07-29 - If you love this movie or think the pairing of Julia Roberts and Dennis Quaid (I really do like both of them) sounds like a great movie, you should stop reading right now..

okay, you were warned.

The movie appears to be set in the 1990's but the way the characters act, you'd think it was maybe the late 50s or early 60s. But the language is definitely 1990s language (and foul). One example of the weird era is a meeting the main character attends, where the women are arguing whether to have their name listed as (for example) Mrs Schmoe Herschovitz as opposed to Juanita Herschovitz in a cookbook. One woman argues people wouldn't know who she was if her first name was listed as the recope writer. All I could think of was "What? in the 1990s?" And spare me the "Southern Belle" bit - I know some "Southern Belles" and truly, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned"...
Julia Roberts plays Grace an emotionally cold woman who stews over her dream of being a large animal vet going sour after becoming pregnant and getting married. It's not quite clear who stopped her from finisheing vet school, perhaps pregnant women weren't allowed in college at that time. Didn't they have birth control at that time? She marries Dennis Quaid, whose college nickname was "Hound Dog" apparently because he likes the ladies.
Because Grace doesn't finish her last year at vet school, she is forced to work at her father's horse ranch, which he runs as a dictatorship. Somewhere along the way, Grace sees her husband kissing another woman in public. She also catches him at a bar with the woman as well as his friends. She leaves & goes back to her parents.
Her father advises her to make nice because apparently in that era, whenever it was, men were expected to fool around on their wives and wives were supposed to accept it. He has a buisness deal with the son-in-law's family and he wants everything to go smoothly.
Grace stirs up a tiny bit of trouble, based on what she finds out from her "friends" (that have had sex with Grace's husband) and following the advice of the "crazy aunt". But there's no real payoff. Of course, it's Grace's fault that hubby cheated - she was cold and distant. Why she is distant is never discussed. And besides, hubby states it really wasn't that much fun to fool around on his wife. _right_ I guess he just forced himself to do it because - well, that's never answered, either.
There's more stuff that goes on, but I kept wondering why. Of course, one amazing dance on the dance makes them fall back in love with each other again. Grace goes back to finish vet school. Hubby stops messing around on her. Everything is hunky dory....
Besides the lack of sympathetic characters, the huge lips on the stars seem to get in the way of the acting. All my husband could do is notice the lips. All I could think of what a waste of time this movie was. I wanted to smack almost everybody and tell them to grow up.
So as you can tell, I'm going to end this review with a "do not watch" recommendation. I don't normally say that but this movie stunk.

One of my wife's fav's
2008-07-05 - Got the movie for my wife, she loves Julia movies. If you are a Julia Roberts fan this is a must have in your collection

A personal favorite
2008-06-27 - This is a movie I watch over and over. It's still funny and heartwarming no matter how many times I've watched it.

Pretty good.
2008-06-12 - Something to Talk About starring Julia Roberts and Dennis Quaid is a good chick flick. The two stars are funny and have natural chemistry but the person who really steals every scene is Kyra Sedgwick who plays Robert's meddlesome sister, she's a firecracker in this movie. I like this movie but it's not perfect, some imperfections here and there. If you are fan of Roberts then check this romantic comedy out!