Women's Media Nation | Social, political, and cultural issues relating to women

The Double Standard for Women

posted by Women & Hollywood
Wednesday, March 18, 2009 at 10:45pm EDT

Julia Roberts’ film Duplicity opens on Friday. It’s really good. It’s good for a lot of reasons — it’s smart, it’s funny, it has great twists — which is why it should have very broad appeal. But it is a movie for adults, you actually have to be interested in thinking and processing information, so the young men so coveted by Hollywood will probably skip it.

The film is written and directed by Tony Gilroy who also write and directed the awesome Michael Clayton. I liked this one just as much as Michael Clayton if not more. But Michael Clayton has only a modest success and only made $50 million domestically, not big numbers, and it had George Clooney in it.

Duplicity has Clive Owen along with Julia and we know that he’s no box office draw, and it falls into the category of adult drama which is sadly disappearing from the multiplexes.

So it’s up to Julia.

If Duplicity is a big hit she’ll get some credit, but people will talk about the movie, but if it’s a flop it’s all her fault. The stories (which have already started) is that she took too much time off to be with her kids, that she’s 40, that she was a product of the 90s…yada yada yada.

From the Hollywood Reporter:

“If (’Duplicity’) does well, everyone will say, ‘Julia’s back,’ ” a top industryite mused. “If it doesn’t, then I guess she’ll be where everyone else is.”

I would imagine that Julia Roberts like any woman or man would want to grow as an actress and as a person. She took a smaller role in Charlie Wilson’s War a couple of years ago dipping her toes back in and she has another supporting role coming up this spring in Fireflies in the Garden.

But stepping back into a leading role as a woman you gotta get slapped back and put in your place. There is not enough room for too many successful female actresses. It’s all about Angelina now, not Julia or so they say. Please.

Here’s how the piece ends:

Even in acting, Roberts’ development projects suggest a new chapter. She’s on board for a more traditional Roberts role, the female-oriented “Eat, Pray, Love,” which was recently picked up by Columbia from Paramount. But she also is signed on to play the conservationist Joan Root — a far cry from prancing around with Hugh Grant. Whatever happens this weekend, she’ll be a long way from Notting Hill.

Why is playing a strong, interesting woman like Joan Root seen as such a departure for Roberts? Are our memories so short that we don’t remember Erin Brockovich? While I love Notting Hill as much as anyone, I would also see Eat, Pray, Love and the Joan Root film.

Let’s just let the movies speak for themselves and stop putting women in boxes and punishing them for having kids and then wanting to get back in the game.

‘Duplicity’ to test Julia Roberts’ star power (HR)