Erin Brockovich

Starring: Julia Roberts, Albert Finney, Aaron Eckhart
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
Box Office: $
2000

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: Desperate single mom Erin Brockovich (Julia Roberts) forces her way into a job with an attorney (Albert Finney). The two have a dislike for each other until they begin working together on a case researched meticulously by Erin: a huge number of residents of a small town and their various illnesses caused by a company's pollution of a water supply. As these two small time people attempt to stand up against a multimillion dollar corporation, only the people they can help and the fact that their cause is right can help them prevail.

Review:

Tim: This film manages to be both a good biographical drama that looks at how one woman improved her life by making a difference in the lives of others; and a good ecological lawsuit movie, in the same vein as A Civil Action.

Julia Roberts does an excellent job playing the strong-willed, provocative, occasionally-foul-mouthed mother of three who proves to have some heroic qualities. Her feisty moments are the most fun of the film. Her spats with Albert Finney are great and her, "Oh bite my ass, Krispy Kreme" line cracks me up every time.

The story is an emotional one and is something everyone can get behind. Big Business is a perfect enemy, especially when its pollution has made the citizens surrounding the plant very, very sick. Our hearts really go out to the families whom suffer from a variety of terrible diseases.

I'm always a proponent of films featuring women in powerful, admirable roles because Hollywood makes too few of them. Roberts has played many such roles and this is near the best of them.

I'd also like to quickly mention Aaron Eckhart. I've been a fan of his for some time now, and I've always liked him in this role. He looks quite a bit different from his usual appearances and he's very good in this movie.

Erin Brockovich is definitely a vehicle for Roberts to display her acting chops, but it is also an inspiring film that is based on a true story, so everybody wins with this one.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7


If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Pretty Woman, Monster's Ball, Against the Ropes, A Civil Action, Class Action, The Pelican Brief