A film review by Mark O'Hara Copyright © 2000 Mark O'Hara

Naming a film or book for its protagonist is often a simple but ingenious tactic.

It's a strategy used by writers from Charles Dickens and Honore de Balzac to Muriel Spark and Saul Bellow. What we look for in these namesake titles is strong characterization: what else are they but focused character studies? A work should, after all, be about what it is called.

So ERIN BROCKOVICH serves as a good title, as its heroine seems to have two sides - the tender loveliness of a mother to match her first name, and the assaulting harshness of a fullback to match her last name. Julia Roberts does a strong job displaying these sides, sometimes within the same extended shot. As she is driving late at night, for instance, she calls home to talk with her lover, George (Aaron Eckhart). After days of legal legwork she is exhausted and bitter, and just hearing his voice cheers her; but what should confront her but that she has missed the first words of her infant daughter! On a cell phone in a car, alone late at night, Roberts mixes her emotions wonderfully.

One flaw in the characterization is the lack of background. We are told that Erin Brockovich has been married and divorced twice, that she had been badly used. But her only behavior that reflects this history is her caution around men. She is hesitant to get close to George too fast - or at least she claims she is hesitant - but we see no real evidence of past trauma. Couldn't director Steven Soderbergh have shot snippets of old fights, or at least provided family photographs of Brockovich's three children with their respective fathers? The film spends more time showing the woman's futile job search than it does explaining why she is the way she is now.

What proves the salvation of Erin Brockovich is the job into which she insinuates herself. Unsuccessful in a lawsuit against a doctor whose Jaguar plowed into her jalopy, Brockovich appears in the office of her lawyer Ed Masry (Albert Finney). Again and again showing her abrasive attitudes, this determined mother becomes a top-notch legal assistant, sharpening her skills on a case that actually becomes too large for Masry's firm to handle by itself. It's a suit against the multi-billion dollar corporation Pacific Gas and Electric, a company that has committed crimes against local populations by contaminating groundwater for decades.

Of course this whole situation reeks of cliché, and the players even refer repeatedly to David and Goliath. But the acting lifts the premise out of the mundane and into the human: we see frailties and platitudes and motives that are believable, and we end up liking all of the main players, even though we might not want them as close friends.

As Ed Masry, Albert Finney may be a bit old, but his facility as an actor convinces us completely. He plays a good foil to Brockovich, rolling with her ego-deflating punches, learning some tact himself from her tactless chidings. Like the other focus characters, Masry's life before the action of the film - and outside the office as well - is kept uncomplicated. We only hear him say, "But I'm married," yet we never meet his wife. Such simplification is not always good, but it does create an emphasis on the action at hand, and evokes chemistry between Roberts and the masterful British actor.

Aaron Eckhart is underused in the picture. George's relationship with Erin causes a certain ambivalence: we want to see more of him, yet we admire the decisions made by screenwriter Susannah Grant, decisions that remove George from the scenes that lead up to the climax. In any case, Eckhart has a sure screen presence, and is certainly cut from the cloth of young leading men.

Do we know enough about the problem that is causing various cancers and other illnesses among the people living near the gas and electric plant? It is explained to us a few times, and thankfully, the explanations do not treat viewers as idiots, as does the scene in ARMAGEDDON in which Billy Bob Thornton moves a space shuttle model around a moon model. Reservations: the business with the trump card, involving Charles Embry, comes too easily; and though it sounds unlikely, the story actually has too few courtroom scenes.

Julia Roberts is a sort of working person's actress. She has created for herself a public persona that is slick and smart, that banters almost spitefully with the press yet offers pleasant interviews. At 32, she's received the highest paycheck for a female lead, a reported $20 million for this outing. That this information is common public knowledge attests to the coverage with which Julia Roberts is swarmed. Like her or not, she is an important force in entertainment; fortunately for the public, her agendas are mature and decent and compassionate. ERIN BROCKVICH shows that she can inhabit a character who is larger than life.

	Running Time: 132 Min | Rated: R | US Release: March 17th | More >>

Related Links:

• Official Site
• Moviefan Online - Erin Brockovich
• Upcomingmovies.com: Erin Brockovich

She brought a small town to its feet and a huge corporation to its knees.