Plenty of eye candy, but not enough meat.

Rating: 6/10 (13 June 2000)

I went to see this movie because of all the buzz about Julia Robert's Oscar worthy performance. After it was over, I believe Albert Finney was better. Not that Julia's bad, but we've seen this character before, Sally Field in Norma Rae and Meryl Streep in Silkwood, come to mind. The only difference is the southern accent that Julia Roberts smartly declined to use. Even the plots are similar; White trash woman, ignores her kids and her man because of her cause against the big mean Corporation. I do think that Julia is by far the most attractive of the bunch however. Out of the 50+ costume changes she makes in this movie (with only $74 in the bank I might add) all but two of them have her breasts popping out at all angles. I think the makers of the film made a conscious decision to have Julia parade around in sexy outfits to keep our mind off of the boring plot-line. There was never a doubt in my mind how the movie would turn out, and the fact that it was based on a true story didn't make any difference from the re-treads coming out of Hollywood for a while now (look for the real Erin Brokovich doing a cameo as a waitress in a restaurant. She's no Julia!). Erin Brokovich's cause was to bring suit against a power company for contaminating a community with chemicals it uses in its plant. The problem is the movie attempts to show you almost every victim of the contamination until the audience gets jaded and numb and it loses its impact. The movie would have been better if it had focused on one family or victim, like the child who is suffering from cancer. I wanted to feel for the victims, but it's hard to give emotion to 600+ people in a two hour movie. The sub-plots were weak as well, although the character of George, the Harley riding, lover/baby-sitter/maid was refreshing. I gave this movie a rating of 6 because of the performances and in spite of the story. I think by year's end there will be performances by actresses more deserving of the Oscar than Julia, but she should get a special award for most frequent use of the "F-Word" by an actress.