Unique heroine, uplifting tale

Rating: 7/10 (19 October 2012)

Erin Brockovich. Starring Julia Roberts. Co-starring Julia Roberts's cleavage. OK that's a bit of a stretch. But not by much. And it begins to tell you something about the woman Roberts plays. Erin Brockovich is not the bashful type. Loud, profane and quick to flaunt her, uh, assets. Erin's quite a package. And Roberts brings that package to the screen wonderfully. The excellent performance of the film's star helps gloss over some of the film's failings. There's a great story to work with here but you get the sense that story could have been told a little better. But Roberts keeps the film moving along best she can, whenever it threatens to veer well off course she's there to pull it together. The end result is a film which is perhaps not outstanding but certainly enjoyable and well worth seeing.
So who is Erin Brockovich anyway? She's an unemployed single mother facing a desperate struggle to make ends meet. She talks her way into a job as a file clerk in a law office. Her boisterous personality and skimpy attire do not make her very popular amongst her female co-workers. And she continues to exasperate her boss, lawyer Ed Masry, who has no idea what to do with her. What he'd probably like to do is get rid of her. But when Erin starts digging into a real estate case which oddly has a slew of medical records tied to it things change. It becomes pretty clear that a massive cover-up has taken place, a huge utility company hiding the fact they have contaminated a town's water supply. Ed realizes Erin has hit on something. And now the two of them are going to form a very unlikely team. Erin hurtling forward at the speed of light and Ed trying to rein her in. Together they can hope to accomplish something quite remarkable, winning justice for a town full of innocent people whose lives have been destroyed.
This film belongs to Julia Roberts all the way. She's on the screen for virtually every second of the film's running time. But in Albert Finney, who plays Ed Masry, Roberts has a very worthy foil. Erin Brockovich is bursting with energy and enthusiasm, full of determination to do what is right and win justice. Ed Masry is older, wearier, worn-down and inclined to do what is easiest. The actors playing the roles, Roberts and Finney, bring the contrast between the characters to life beautifully. It is in their interplay that the film has most of its best moments.
There are times the movie struggles to move its story along. It sometimes gets bogged down in legal procedure. It brings in characters it doesn't make the best use of, most notably George, a biker played by Aaron Eckhart. Erin and George have a romantic relationship of sorts but the movie never spends enough time with the couple for us to really care how that part of the story plays itself out. The movie also glosses over some key parts of the real-life story, including Erin's own illnesses she suffered with during her investigation into the maladies of the townspeople. That was a chance for some dramatic tension which went begging. And there are some aspects of the case which are never made sufficiently clear. For instance there's one woman in the town who Erin works on tirelessly to get her to sign on to the lawsuit against the utility company. This woman is apparently the key to the whole thing. Why is she so important? The movie never begins to tell us. This is by no means the most dramatic of legal thrillers. There are no great twists and turns, no shadowy villains lurking in the corners. But what the movie might lack in dramatic zest it makes up for in heart. Roberts and Finney give tremendous performances and they carry the film along to a satisfying end. Maybe Erin Brockovich, the movie, falls somewhat short of greatness. But Erin Brockovich, the woman, did great things and she makes for a great movie character. And in this case that's enough to make this movie a success.