This #MeToo melodrama isn't great, but Julia Roberts' performance is

This #MeToo melodrama isn't great, but Julia Roberts' performance is

Justin Chang

October 09, 2025 / 9:57 am

There's a brief moment in the high-toned academic potboiler After the Hunt when Julia Roberts lets out her signature laugh — that glorious, full-throated cackle that harks back at least to Pretty Woman . It's wonderful to hear it again, especially for those of us who've longed to see more of Roberts on-screen lately.

After the Hunt , from the Italian director Luca Guadagnino , isn't a great movie, but Roberts is undeniably great in it; this is her most commanding work since her Oscar-winning turn in Erin Brockovich 25 years ago. Here, though, Roberts is no crusader for justice; she's a woman defined by emotional guardedness and moral ambivalence. She plays Alma Imho