Erin Brockovich

It's one thing to hear Julia Roberts use profanity. It's another to hear her use it in every other sentence. The plot line follows a real sequence of events, and follows the true crusade of the real Erin Brockovich. Erin must have had quite a mouth, because the script for the film version of her expose into law is cluttered with every variation of the F-word. Brockovich is a spunky character, one who doesn't take anything from anybody. She's matter of fact, and incredibly intelligent. She's a people's person, one who's interested in the health of your daughter, the quality of the food on the table. I've read this about the real Erin Brockovich. This is also the Brockovich that is portrayed in the film.

The plot follows Erin's venture in law and her discovery that the water around a PG&E plant in the West is contaminated. Of course, PG&E know this, the citizens don't, and the citizens are now getting sick with no plausible explanation. Brockovich is a struggling mother of three, having problems with love and in keeping a job. The one job she does manage to keep, even though it's after a series of hiccups, is a sort of secretarial work at a law firm. She researches one case and discovers the deeds of the multi-billion dollar corporation.

Julia Robert's portrayal of Erin Brockovich is dead-on and cunning. She spits the lines of dialogue like no other actress could. Her casting, while initially causing doubt in the back of my mind, is genius. It seems as though Julia Roberts was tired of the Pretty Woman, or Runaway Bride-style roles. She attacks her role as Brockovich with such vigor that this must be true. Or perhaps she's just in the hands of an exceptional director.

Steven Soderbergh is that director. He's a very consistent director, with my favorite film of his being Out of Sight. His direction is sure handed and pure, with little to no glitz. The look of the movie is just fine, letting the heat of the summer sun become gleaming and oppressive. The pacing is consistent; there's very few lags, except possibly when the film concerns itself too much with the inner debates at the lawyer firm. Otherwise, Soderbergh lets the script written by Susannah Grant take charge.

The film is testament to a feisty girl's feisty fight against a large company. It's feel good nature, especially at the end where it borders adulation but thankfully never wanders into that territory is the type of crowd-pleasing triumph that should have audiences smiling in satisfaction.

On a scale of 1 to 10 low V-necks : 8