Erin Brockovich: A Review (Review #2055)

ERIN BROCKOVICH

Being a single mother is not easy, especially when you are taking on a major corporation. Erin Brockovich tells its story of one person making a positive change through her combination of guts, common sense and boobs. 

Erin Brockovich (Julia Roberts) is having a terrible run in her life. Broke, with three kids from two failed marriages to support, she ends up getting hit by a speeding car. What should have been an open-and-shut case was demolished by Brockovich herself. Baited into cursing out the doctor whose speeding caused the accident, the jury rules against her. Erin is infuriated with the whole legal process. Ed Masry (Albert Finney), her unfortunate attorney, endures much abuse even though the whole fiasco was her fault.

He now has to endure Erin at the office. She essentially bullied her way into working there, though she tells him that if it doesn't work out, he can fire her. Erin, for her part, is reluctant to start up anything with George (Aaron Eckhart), the biker who is her new neighbor. Soon, Erin starts acclimating to the law office and starts a tentative relationship with George, who is good with her kids. 

She is handed a relatively simple case involving a real estate deal. The Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) is offering the Jansen family in Hinkley, California a good deal to purchase their property. They are so generous that they also have been paying their medical bills. Erin learns this when looking over the real estate offer, as Donna Jansen (Marg Helgenberger) has kept all the paperwork together. Erin is suspicious both of PG&E's generosity and how Donna and her husband have various illness. Erin learns that PG&E have been telling the Jansens that the chromium in the water is affecting them. It is, but it is not the safe chromium that PG&E has been misleading them into thinking is the cause.

Erin's dogged research through water department records shows that the Hinkley groundwater is highly contaminated with hexavalent chromium. That explains why so many in Hinkley have had in some cases generations of major illnesses. No one in Hinkley made the connections between the water, their illnesses and PG&E. Erin has.

Now, through ups and downs with Masry and the various law office staff, Erin becomes single-minded in seeing justice done. Her plain and simple manner earns her the trust of Hinkley residents. Soon, what had been a simple pro bono real estate offer has ballooned into a major lawsuit. Over Erin's objections, Masry brings in Kurt Potter (Peter Coyote), who has years of experience in these types of lawsuits. Again, over Erin's objections, Masry and Potter push for binding arbitration versus the myriads of jury trials Erin favors. Will Erin be able to persuade the over 600 clients to go along with this risky strategy? What of the mysterious Charles Embry (Tracey Walter), who may be the key to tie in the PG&E corporate office to Hinkley? What will be the outcome of the case and of Erin Brockovich?

This is where one is told that Erin Brockovich is a movie, not a documentary. The opening credits do say, "This film is based on a true story", but I figure that there were changes. Fortunately for the viewer, we can enjoy this well-told story. As portrayed by Julia Roberts, Erin Brockovich is a human bulldozer, pushing everyone and everything out of her way. This has its pluses and minuses. When it comes to helping the people of Hinkley, Erin will not be moved. However, at times her single-mindedness blinds her to certain realities. She may think that the hundreds of people deserve a jury trial. However, she seems unwilling to see that PG&E can, as Ed Masry points out, tie their clients up in court for years if not decades.

I like that Erin Brockovich took the time to show that she can at times be unpleasant and if not blind at least myopic to how her zeal affects others. This film is a clear showcase for Julia Roberts, one of America's Sweethearts. She certainly gets many opportunities to make speeches important and trivial. She could be verbally taunting a female PG&E lawyer that the water she is about to drink is from Hinkley. She could also berate George on their first meeting. 

Roberts has a rapid-fire delivery that manages to sound natural. She starts Erin Brockovich by showing off that million-watt smile as she attempts to charm the potential employer. Once she realizes that he will not hire her, that smile is dropped to reveal the firm woman. Roberts also manages to have some light moments. Of particular note is when she plops her ample bosom in front of Scott (Jamie Harrold), the water department records office employee. He is clearly bedazzled by Erin's buxom beauty.

What I think Susannah Grant, in her screenplay, gives Erin Brockovich is a combination of humor and heart. In Erin's at times belligerent manner, we can chuckle at how brazen she can be. However, we also appreciate that Erin is at heart a good person, once she finds a good cause. I would not go so far as to call Erin "feisty". She is more determined.

However, we also get great moments of drama and self-reflection. Roberts has a wonderful scene where she talks about her disappointments after having once been Miss Wichita. Here she was, a literal former beauty queen, now barely surviving. She does have some humor in this scene, commenting that after almost a year of opening grocery stores, she had little time for world peace. However, we got some solid acting from Roberts. 

The film also gives Albert Finney some great material. He is at times beleaguered by Erin, making for some humorous moments. However, he too is able to push back and show that Ed Masry is not someone whom Erin can push or belittle. Finney as Masry points out that he has survived much himself and that he is putting himself on the line financially with this case. As such, Erin's sense of moral outrage whenever he does something she does not approve of is without merit.

Aaron Eckhart had, I think, his breakout role as George, the loveable biker. He does not make George into a dimwit or a sleazy figure. Instead, George is intelligent and genuinely caring for both Erin and her children. 

It is a credit to director Steven Soderbergh that while Erin Brockovich is over two hours long the film moves fast. 

Erin Brockovich is a feel-good film. We end up liking Erin as a woman who has compassion, sometimes excessive zeal, but who wants to do the right thing. It is said that a little learning is a dangerous thing. It can be if Erin Brockovich learns that there is some shady business going on.

Born 1960

DECISION: B+