Release Date:
03/17/2000
Grinding through the weekend movie listings with your girlfriend is a frustrating ritualshe wants a movie starring Julia Roberts; you want a movie that doesnt bite monkey ass. Be a hero and compromise with Julias new one. Erin Brockovich turns out to be a surprisingly entertaining (and gratifyingly foul-mouthed) variation on the courtroom drama. Indie-film icon Steven Soderbergh directs and works the same magic he did with the genre-bending Out Of Sight, a film that bucked tired gangster-movie conventions while making an actor out of George Clooney.
Youll get the point right away: Its little sassy broad versus big, evil corporation. As the title character, a down-on-her-luck mother of two, Roberts is a trashy, take-no-crap trailer park superheroine on the make. She barrels her way into a paralegal gig with an attorney (gruffly sincere Albert Finney) who screwed up her car accident case. From there, her spunky ambition leads her to a small Southern California town whose residents are slowly dying, unknowingly poisoned by a nearby utility. Its a familiar formula, but Soderbergh keeps it watchable, avoiding sentimentality and showcasing Roberts breasts (effectively enhanced by a push-up bra) at every turn.
Roberts abandons her glossy Hollywood lacquer for once, revealing a very real, believable bitch underneathshe actually works for your eight bucks. Its always fun to watch the little girl (or guy) kick the sweet bejesus out of heartless corporate yahoos. And theres a bonus: After pleasing your girl with this one, shell follow you to whatever wham-bang orgy of bone-cracking action you want to see this summer.
Youll get the point right away: Its little sassy broad versus big, evil corporation. As the title character, a down-on-her-luck mother of two, Roberts is a trashy, take-no-crap trailer park superheroine on the make. She barrels her way into a paralegal gig with an attorney (gruffly sincere Albert Finney) who screwed up her car accident case. From there, her spunky ambition leads her to a small Southern California town whose residents are slowly dying, unknowingly poisoned by a nearby utility. Its a familiar formula, but Soderbergh keeps it watchable, avoiding sentimentality and showcasing Roberts breasts (effectively enhanced by a push-up bra) at every turn.
Roberts abandons her glossy Hollywood lacquer for once, revealing a very real, believable bitch underneathshe actually works for your eight bucks. Its always fun to watch the little girl (or guy) kick the sweet bejesus out of heartless corporate yahoos. And theres a bonus: After pleasing your girl with this one, shell follow you to whatever wham-bang orgy of bone-cracking action you want to see this summer.