YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO SHOUT "OSCAR!" BUT ITS WORTH A LOOK

Rating: Null/10 (1 April 2000)

The Nutshell: A feisty young woman, Erin Brockovich (Julia Roberts), arrives at the law offices of Ed Masry (Albert Finney) through the forces of Fate. A twice divorced mother of three with no employable skills, she badgers, cajoles and pleads with Masry to give her a job. He reluctantly hires her as a file clerk. After finding medical records in real estate files, she becomes a de facto investigator to uncover a large utility company's cover-up concerning the contamination of a small town's water supply. As the stakes get higher, the uneducated and untrained Erin must use her considerable wits and genuine empathy to the affected townsfolk to stay not only ahead, but in the game.
As is apparent from the description, ERIN BROCKOVICH is film treading on the ground of earlier films. NORMA RAE has given us the gutsy, blue collar woman fighting the big corporation and THE VERDICT has shown us out-of-their-league lawyers having to face very daunting legal challenges. With the Harley-Davidson riding next door neighbor who volunteers (!) to watch her three kids, there's even a shade of MASK's sweet bikers thrown in to boot. When a film has so much past cinema history to compete in the audiences memory against, it has two choices: the minefield or paint-by-numbers. A writer and director could try to approach the story and film in a new way. They can avoid all the clichÃ©s and expectations, and go for something wholly original. But like in a minefield, one misstep and the film implodes from the twin anticipations from both the general audience and the cineastes lead to expect something more.
Or, they can capitulate to the idea that there are few new options in presenting real-life stories and make sure they keep the those audience pleasing moment coming at a steady rate. Steven Soderbergh and writer Susannah Grant go the later, and hence, paint-by-numbers route. This is the Soderbergh who gave us OUT OF SIGHT more than the one responsible for THE LIMEY. There is nothing wholly original here in either the film's story line or how it's presented. In fact, BROCKOVICH is such a studio star vehicle he doesn't employ the non-linear editing of those last two films that was becoming his forte.
Considering his last films and that his announced future projects are a remake of the piffle OCEAN'S 11 and a film version of the BBC TV show "Traffic" (about a drug enforcement chief finding out his daughter is a drug mule), Soderbergh seems to be following a one for the studio/one for himself approach to filmmaking. Too bad BROCKOVICH seems to be the studio pic he is doing before starting TRAFFIC. Allowed to work with a more realistic version of Erin (for comparison, pay close attention to the waitress early-on: it's the real Erin Brockovich doing a cameo) and not having to deal with the considerations that go hand in hand with working with someone of Robert's stature it would have been interesting see how different (and very possibly better) this could have been.
This is a showy part and Roberts sinks her teeth into it. Roberts here will remind those who remember it of her breakthrough part in MYSTIC PIZZA - a film that had the bad luck of being a movie aimed at women before "chick flicks" became trendy recently. Definitely worth a rental. She is caustic, forceful and unpretentious. The only problem is Roberts brings so much baggage with her that she never makes the character seem unique. The part suffers from us never being surprised by a larger-than-life character because, well, it's Julia Roberts. It's a wonder why New Jersey Films didn't opt to try this as a low budget film showcasing an actress not as well known. Janet McTeer, who did a similar no-collar turn in TUMBLEWEEDS that prompted several critics to call hers THE performance of 1999, actually looks like the real Erin.
Beginning what will hopefully be the start of a interesting late middle-aged phase of his career, Finney consistently infuses his character with the quirks and a real human tics that are just as consistently missing from Roberts performance. Those who were unlucky enough to catch the pointless and boring SIMPATICO (was there ever a more egregious waste of a good title?) will be excused from thinking his turn as the race horse voucher in that turgid film was a warm-up for Masry. As a man who has worked hard and been careful to arrive where he is in life, he had a helluva lot more to lose than Brockovich who is acting out of necessity. Instead of sounding shrill and selfish, Finney manages a nice balancing act between grounding him enough to be solid and letting him let Erin befuddle him. Its a shame that if anyone remembers the film next winter when the next awards season starts, it will be for the wrong performance.
Universal left nothing to chance marketing BROCKOVICH, unfortunately for regular movie attendees. Every great zinger and most of the "You tell'em, girl!" moments are squandered in the trailers. For those who plunk down their $8.50 to discover what made Erin and her story worth telling find that the awfully nice folk in the Universal marketing department have made sure there is nothing new to discover. It's not hard to like BROCKOVICH. It moves deftly between the expanding professional life of its title character and the repercussions it is having on her home life. It makes a lot of smart choices in what to play up and what events can be skimmed over. As long as its treated as the feel good, unchallenging mainstream studio star vehicle it was fashioned to be, liking the film will come easy. Just don't expect anything deeper. As either a safe-bet outing at the multiplex or a rental half a year from now, ERIN BROCKOVICH is worth a look. But just remember Olympia Dukakis' retort to Cher in MOONSTRUCK - "Playing it safe is the dumbest thing a woman like you can do."