Excellent

Rating: Null/10 (17 March 2000)

Part of the fun of going to see a movie in a theatre that is full of people is the amount of response from the people around you. I don't need to be told when to laugh, but sometimes it's still enjoyable. With the excellent film "Erin Brockovich", it was fun. Julia Roberts stars as the sharp-tongued Erin B. who won't flinch at screaming "Bite me, crispy cream" to an uptight secretary, or "Fuck you!" to her boss. She says what's on her mind, and that's precisely why she gets as far as she does. People respect her. Especially those dying or who have dying children due to poisoned water in Hinkly, which is a town that is right beside PG&E, a huge plant. Erin is working for a small law firm and finds the case intriguing, and decides to study up on it. She gets further and further invovled, and spends months and months on the case, while also supporting her three children and trying to pay attention to a devoted boyfriend. Two stiff, cold briefcase-carrying, suit-wearing lawyers are brought in without any consent of Erin's, and she wastes no time speaking her mind. After one of the stiff, corporate lawyers calmly says to her, "I'm sorry, I must have gotten off on the wrong foot.." Erin retorts, "That's all you got, lady! Two wrong feet and some ugly shoes." She has the upper hand in the entire case because she possesses what the others lack, the human touch. She relates to the dying victims and reassures them she is trying her hardest and most sincere. Julia Roberts shines as Erin Brockovich, and it shows she sincerely believed in the film, the script, and the story, and wanted to get the real deal across about the real town that had a real, severe cancer problem as well as many other diseases creeping into people's homes due to the plant. Wonderful script by Susannah Grant, who above all should be commended, as well as terrific acting by all, especially Julia herself. Excellent film. Smart. Sassy. See it.