Tinseltown's it couple: 'WE'RE BETTER AS FRIENDS'

The rom-com sweethearts tell why they've never taken it further

They're the Hollywood that never was and their fans love them for it.

Julia Roberts and George Clooney have one of the most enduring and successful relationships in Tinseltown.

Together, they've made sweet music, steamed up the big screen, walked countless red carpets and brought in more than $1 billion at the box office.

This year, in fact, it will be 21 years since the startlingly good-looking pair first met. But there will be no romantic weekend away, no dinners by candlelight or eternity rings exchanged.

Because while these two are always publicly declaring how much they adore each other and share as much of their private lives together as possible, they're nothing more than besties.

Now Julia, 54, and George, 61, are releasing their seventh movie together, Ticket to Paradise, which comes out in New Zealand in September. In the film, the twosome have joined forces to play a divorced couple who hightail it to Bali, hoping to stop their daughter from marrying on a whim.

George says he knew from the beginning he would only do the movie if Julia was part of the deal.

"The minute I read it, I called Julia," he recalls. "And I said, 'Did you get this?' And she said, 'Yeah.' And I said, 'Are you going to do it?' And she goes, 'Are you going to do it?' And I said, 'Yeah, if you do it.' So it was just one of those very lucky things."