Ocean's Forty

Many happy returns to birthday girl Julia Roberts, who turns 37 today. She's celebrating in the hospital, according to WENN, because she went into labor two months early. Blog of Ages wishes you well, Julia.

Why is the Pretty Woman's non-40th birthday relevant to the topic of these web environs? Well, Julia stars in the upcoming Ocean's Twelve with George Clooney (43), Brad Pitt (Exactly 40!), Andy Garcia (48), Don Cheadle (turns 40 eleven days before the film opens), and Bernie Mac (46), directed by Steven Soderbergh (41). With such an impressive number of 40somethings — and, let's be fair to Juila, almost-40somethings — in the roster, our FortyMeter predicts big things for this little sequel. (Of course, the last thing FortyMeter predicted was that the Cards would take the series.)

Congrats to all these plucky thespians for bucking popular trends and going against the Screen Actors Guild, which said "People under the age of 40 are favored in the entertainment industry." (The Big 40!, p. 162)