JULIA ROBERTS must have been inspired by her pal GEORGE CLOONEY, because on Wednesday, she went seriously out of her way to give some paparazzi scumbags a verbal beat-down for driving recklessly near a school to get pictures of her kids.

  --Check it out . . . Julia even drives on the WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD, so she can get up alongside the photographers and force them to pull over.

 --Unfortunately, she makes them turn their video camera off before she goes DOG NUTS on them.  But what these guys DID manage to capture is still pretty amusing.  Check it out here . . .

www.tmz.com/tmz_main_video