Julia Roberts and George Clooney on Their 22-Year Friendship: 'Same Goofy Nuts We've Always Been'

When Julia Roberts and George Clooney met in 2000 ahead of shooting Ocean's Eleven, it was love — and laughs — at first sight.

"This was just easy," recalls Clooney, 61, of forging a fast friendship on the Vegas heist film 22 years ago.

"That's how it felt with George," says Roberts, 54. "You just kind of go, 'All right'... He's one of my people now."

The superstar duo, who reunite for the new romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise as a divorced couple who team up to sabotage their daughter's impending wedding, stayed close over the years. They went on to costar in four films together after Oceans.

So what makes two of Hollywood's most beloved stars click?

"I think we enjoy the same things. We love the work, but we don't make the work our entire life," says Clooney, who also directed Roberts in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and produced her drama August: Osage County. "It makes going to work really fun. It's very easy for us."

"We have a similar approach to life," the actress says.

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Steve Granitz/FilmMagic

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Off-screen, they've witnessed each other's sweetest milestones: finding life partners and raising children (Roberts shares 17-year-old twins Hazel and Phinnaeus, and son Henry, 15, with her husband, cinematographer Danny Moder, 53; George and wife Amal, 44, a human rights lawyer, are parents to 5-year-old twins Ella and Alexander).

"Our lives expand in these beautiful ways," says Roberts, known as "Aunt Juju" to the Clooney kids. Still, she adds: "We are the same goofy nuts we've always been."

Vince Valitutti/Universal Studios Julia Roberts and George Clooney in Ticket to Paradise

Clooney agrees Roberts, for one, remains as generous a friend as she was when they met decades ago.

"Listen, the thing about Julia, one of the many great qualities, is she is consistent in her loyalty and in her friendship and in her kindness," he says. "So if you'd ask me what's different, I'd say that with the exception of us getting a little bit older, nothing in terms of who we are, or who you are."

Ticket to Paradise is in theaters Friday.

For more of the interview with Julia Roberts and George Clooney, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.