By Cynthia W. Gentry, © 2000 by Cynthia W. Gentry, published on Dailygossip.com, May 2000.
Darlings, its been a long day, and Id like nothing better than to curl up in bed with a cup of chamomile tea and the latest issue of The New Yorker, because I live to see which movie my man Anthony Lane has dissected now. But then I think of Erin Brockovich, who instigated a class-action suit against PG&E while raising three kids single-handedly, and I get off my duff.
Like you, Id heard good things about Erin Brockovich, but I hadnt rushed out to see it. That was a mistake. Because its one of the first movies in a long time to send me out of the theater smiling. And its director Steven Soderberghs best work to date, in no small part due to a fine script by Susannah Grant. What Grant did for Drew Barrymore in Ever After, which she also scripted, she now does for Julia Roberts.
Erin Brockovich is the true story of a single mother of three who wont take No for an answer. And Julia Roberts, decked out in miniskirts, cleavage-enhancing tops and high heels, plays Erin to the hilt. She bullies her way into the law firm of Ed Masry (played in a scene-stealing performance by Albert Finney) and once there, takes on a utility (my own PG&E) thats polluting a small desert town, winning the residents one of the biggest class action suits in U.S. history.
She also finds romance in the person of George (Aaron Eckhart), a gentle biker who takes care of her kids in a nice example of role reversal. Erin agonizes about neglecting her kids as she pursues the case, but she never wavers in her dedication to it, nor is she punished like so many other cinematic moms who choose career over kids, even if that choice is only temporaryand in this case, for a much greater good than stock options. (Momentary soapbox digression: Have we ever seen a man cry in the movies over missing his childs first words because of work? I dont think so, and I think its about time we did. Lecture over.)
For the scenes outside the law office, Soderbergh makes effective use of handheld cameras that capture the chaotic nature of Erins life. Although Erin Brockovich is a studio movie (produced by Danny DeVitos Jersey Films) and distributed by Columbia and Universal, it retains a gritty, independent feel that perfectly reflects the spirit of its heroine. Sure, its pace is occasionally languid, but this is a movie that makes you care personally about the dangers of chromium, wonder what your own drinking water contains and hope that you have an Erin Brockovich in your own neighborhood.