Oh, well
"Erin Brokovich"
Overall Rating: **½
Does everybody hate and mistrust lawyers? Maybe not everybody, but the title character of "Erin Brokovich," played by Julia Roberts, does. Erin Brokovich is an unemployed, single mother of three. After an unsuccessful job interview, she gets into a bad traffic accident. She hires Ed Masry (Albert Finney) as her lawyer; despite his assurances that they have a good case, they lose. Through a combination of begging and buffaloing Masry, Erin Brokovich finds a job as a legal secretary.
Julia Roberts is the driving force for this movie. Her character is on screen for just about the entire length of the movie. Despite a tendency to break out into profanity-filled tirades when provoked, she is compelling. Though she's crass and ill-tempered, Brokovich is dedicated to her work, and manages to make something of herself because of that dedication. She is imperfect but admirable. Roberts' performance is definitely the high point of the movie--more than its plot, the film is about her character. Her character is a laudable go-getter one moment, and her own worst enemy the next. Roberts makes Erin a likable character despite her flaws and because of her strengths.
You might think a movie about a legal secretary would be dull. Yes, it does drag in a few places--but not many. Certainly not what you'd expect for a two-hour-plus movie. There are a couple of brief "chase" scenes--but mostly, the action comes from business travel to and from the small town of Hinkley, coupled with the normally frantic pace of day-to-day life. The latter also helps to make Brokovich a sympathetic character.
If you like Julia Roberts, then "Erin Brokovich" may be for you. If on the other hand, you prefer John Travolta, then "A Civil Action" offers the same plotline. "Fire Down Below" and several episodes of "MacGyver" are also very similar. "Erin Brokovich" presents another case of a big corporate polluter being brought down by the lone crusader out for justice. They're poisoning the water, and someone has to take them to task. "Erin Brokovich" sticks to the formula--someone even makes a threatening phone call to Brokovich. Granted, the writers were limited by the fact that they used a true story as their basis--however, the movie winds up telling a story that has been told over and over again in recent years. The resulting canned plot and common theme that makes for little originality.
The movie also has plenty of flaws in how it presents the plot. Despite several narrative paragraphs at the end of the film detailing what happens to Erin professionally, Erin's love life at the end is resolved only with vague implication. Erin's conflict with her children is also badly handled. Her son (Scotty Leavenworth) actively resents her for not being there, but, near the end, there's a very contrived "Kodak moment" where he "learns" that his mother is doing important work, which just makes everything all right. (No indication how this affects his sisters.) It's very frustrating that what could be considered the main conflict is resolved so easily and in such an affected manner. Equally frustrating is that the movie has the chance to deal with a real issue--the difficulty of balancing career and family--but does its best to ignore it.
On the other hand, "Erin Brokovich" does have some good points. For instance, there is the scene used in the previews where Erin tells a group of lawyers who represent the guilty company and maintain there's nothing wrong with the water, that their drinking water comes from one of the wells in question. The scenes where Brokovich manipulates a simple file clerk to gain access to records she needs are also very amusing. Some of the film's best scenes aren't funny at all, such as the touching scenes when Brokovich interviews the families who use the poisoned wells. "Erin Brokovich" lives from moment to moment.
The main reason why "Erin Brokovich" is rated R is strong language--the movie employs quite a vocabulary in many different scenes. Beyond that, there are several references to sexual acts, though nothing is shown beyond revealing clothing and kissing. As for violence, there is nothing beyond shouting.
"Erin Brokovich" has its moments. It also has Julia Roberts, who handles her role excellently. Unfortunately, it has an all too often repeated plot, weakened by a superficial treatment of Brokovich's life outside of work.
Title: "Erin Brokovich"
Release date: March 17, 2000
MPAA rating: R
Overall rating: **½
Aprox. run time: 131 min.
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writer: Susannah Grant
Stars: Julia Roberts, Albert Finney
Original URL: http://www.geocities.com/reviewsbyjohn/ErinBrok.htm
Overall Rating: **½
Does everybody hate and mistrust lawyers? Maybe not everybody, but the title character of "Erin Brokovich," played by Julia Roberts, does. Erin Brokovich is an unemployed, single mother of three. After an unsuccessful job interview, she gets into a bad traffic accident. She hires Ed Masry (Albert Finney) as her lawyer; despite his assurances that they have a good case, they lose. Through a combination of begging and buffaloing Masry, Erin Brokovich finds a job as a legal secretary.
Julia Roberts is the driving force for this movie. Her character is on screen for just about the entire length of the movie. Despite a tendency to break out into profanity-filled tirades when provoked, she is compelling. Though she's crass and ill-tempered, Brokovich is dedicated to her work, and manages to make something of herself because of that dedication. She is imperfect but admirable. Roberts' performance is definitely the high point of the movie--more than its plot, the film is about her character. Her character is a laudable go-getter one moment, and her own worst enemy the next. Roberts makes Erin a likable character despite her flaws and because of her strengths.
You might think a movie about a legal secretary would be dull. Yes, it does drag in a few places--but not many. Certainly not what you'd expect for a two-hour-plus movie. There are a couple of brief "chase" scenes--but mostly, the action comes from business travel to and from the small town of Hinkley, coupled with the normally frantic pace of day-to-day life. The latter also helps to make Brokovich a sympathetic character.
If you like Julia Roberts, then "Erin Brokovich" may be for you. If on the other hand, you prefer John Travolta, then "A Civil Action" offers the same plotline. "Fire Down Below" and several episodes of "MacGyver" are also very similar. "Erin Brokovich" presents another case of a big corporate polluter being brought down by the lone crusader out for justice. They're poisoning the water, and someone has to take them to task. "Erin Brokovich" sticks to the formula--someone even makes a threatening phone call to Brokovich. Granted, the writers were limited by the fact that they used a true story as their basis--however, the movie winds up telling a story that has been told over and over again in recent years. The resulting canned plot and common theme that makes for little originality.
The movie also has plenty of flaws in how it presents the plot. Despite several narrative paragraphs at the end of the film detailing what happens to Erin professionally, Erin's love life at the end is resolved only with vague implication. Erin's conflict with her children is also badly handled. Her son (Scotty Leavenworth) actively resents her for not being there, but, near the end, there's a very contrived "Kodak moment" where he "learns" that his mother is doing important work, which just makes everything all right. (No indication how this affects his sisters.) It's very frustrating that what could be considered the main conflict is resolved so easily and in such an affected manner. Equally frustrating is that the movie has the chance to deal with a real issue--the difficulty of balancing career and family--but does its best to ignore it.
On the other hand, "Erin Brokovich" does have some good points. For instance, there is the scene used in the previews where Erin tells a group of lawyers who represent the guilty company and maintain there's nothing wrong with the water, that their drinking water comes from one of the wells in question. The scenes where Brokovich manipulates a simple file clerk to gain access to records she needs are also very amusing. Some of the film's best scenes aren't funny at all, such as the touching scenes when Brokovich interviews the families who use the poisoned wells. "Erin Brokovich" lives from moment to moment.
The main reason why "Erin Brokovich" is rated R is strong language--the movie employs quite a vocabulary in many different scenes. Beyond that, there are several references to sexual acts, though nothing is shown beyond revealing clothing and kissing. As for violence, there is nothing beyond shouting.
"Erin Brokovich" has its moments. It also has Julia Roberts, who handles her role excellently. Unfortunately, it has an all too often repeated plot, weakened by a superficial treatment of Brokovich's life outside of work.
Title: "Erin Brokovich"
Release date: March 17, 2000
MPAA rating: R
Overall rating: **½
Aprox. run time: 131 min.
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writer: Susannah Grant
Stars: Julia Roberts, Albert Finney
Original URL: http://www.geocities.com/reviewsbyjohn/ErinBrok.htm
Added to blog site: 7/27/09
Labels: Movie review, ReviewsbyJohn
posted by John at 3/31/2000 04:06:00 AM
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