Name: Film Review: Erin Brockovich (2000)
Item: Erin Brockovich
Rating: 40
Author: @drax

(source: tmdb.org)

In 1990 Julia Roberts became unofficial queen of Hollywood with her stellar performance in megapopular film Pretty Woman. A decade later came what could be described the most triumphant moment of her career – a title role in Erin Brockovich, 2000 drama directed by Steven Soderbergh. That film was not only popular at the box office, but also made her first actress to get 20 million US$ for the role thus making her equal with her male colleagues, as well as being hailed by critics and earning her Oscar for Best Actress. Most importantly, this film and Roberts’ role weren’t burdened with controversies like Pretty Woman.

Unlike 1990 film, which was and still is accused of portraying Hollywood fantasy instead of grim reality, Erin Brockovich is actually based on real events. The plot begins in 1993 when we are introduced to protagonist Erin Brockovich (played by Roberts), woman who had difficult life. She was married twice only to get three children she has trouble supporting, partly because her brash personality, foul language and tendency to dress provocatively doesn’t sit well with most potential employers. At the end she gets a job by Ed Masry (played by Albert Finney), attorney who failed to represent her favourably at the personal injury lawsuit. She is given task of sorting documents and in one of them, dealing with seemingly routine real estate proceedings, she finds unusual details relating to medical records. Intrigued by this, she travels to Hinkley, small town in Mojave Desert, where she meets Mrs. Jensen (played by Marg Helgenberger), one of Masry’s clients, who explains that all medical expenses for her and her family have been paid by Pacific Gas & Electricity Company (PG&E), which just happens to have industrial facility in the immediate vicinity. After finding that Mrs. Jensen and many citizens suffer from rare forms of cancer, Erin Brockovich makes conclusion that this is due to PG&E dumping cancerogenic chromium into ground and polluting town’s water supply. Seemingly generous medical subsidies and real estate purchases are just corporation’s attempt to cover up the scandal. Erin tries to talk his boss into launching lawsuit, which he very reluctantly agrees to, knowing that his small law firm has few chances against corporation able to spend millions dollars for best lawyers and financially exhausting process. Erin is nevertheless relentless and finds new evidence that would finally talk citizens of Hinkley into launching class action lawsuit which improves Masry’s chances against P&GE. She, however, pays price for her success in private life, because constance absence from home doesn’t sit well with her latest boyfriend George (played by Aaron Eckhart), forced to serve as Erin’s children’s babysitter.

The main weakness for Erin Brockovich, at least for viewers that, like the author of this review, had some professional experience with legal work, is exactly what was supposed to be its main strength – real life. Stories like those depicted in 2000 film are in real life exception rather than the rule. Inevitable comparison with A Civil Action, 1998 film that also covered legal battle of ordinary people against rich corporations, give clear advantage to Steven Zaillian’s work which, among other things, tried to be more realistic and describe how unlike in Hollywood fairytales, Davids gets crushed by corporate Goliaths which simply financially exhaust them through long and expensive proceedings. Script by Susannah Grant, on the other hand, looks like typical Hollywood treatment of a real life story with only large 51 million US$ making it look different than average television film. Although Grant “spices up” some details and discards others in other make her script more filmable, the story itself is predictable and not very interesting. The main problem is lack of focus. Script for Erin Brockovich is torn between covering the actual legal case and dealing with heroine’s less interesting private life.

Even Steven Soderbergh, director known for great talent and versatility, doesn’t appear to offer anything original and gives impression of being nothing more than hired gun, with Erin Brockovich being the most conventional of all films in his opus. Julia Roberts, on the other hand, worked hard on her role, trying her best to embody real life character of Erin Brockovich (who, like Masry, briefly appears in cameo role). She is helped a lot by good costume designs and use of Wonderbra, which made her show good replica of Brockovich’s impressive cleavage. Albert Finney, veteran British actor specialised for character roles, is very good as Brockovich’s reluctant boss, while Aaron Eckhart is wasted in thankless role of male babysitter.

The most disappointing thing about Erin Brockovich is that the film failed to bring public attention to some important issues. While this particular story had something of a happy ending, Americans didn’t learn a lot from it and good reminder for that is recent appearance of Erin Brockovich at the site of East Palestine train derailment disaster when she tried to address the issues of deadly pollution and lack of corporate and government responsibility. Erin Brockovich is a watchable film, but Robert, Soderbergh and real Erin Brockovich deserved something better.

RATING: 4/10 (+)