ERIN BROCKOVICH - The Good
by Lovell Mahan-Moutaw

"Are you something else I'm gonna have to survive?" - Julia Roberts as Erin Brockovich

Erin Brockovich has three kids, two good-for-nothing ex-husbands, a mound of bills, a questionable wardrobe, a tiara from her win as Miss Wichita, a fast and sharp tongue and a crappy car. Erin Brockovich does not have an education, a job or very good luck.

While job hunting one day, she is hit by a speeding jaguar. She sustains numerous injuries and goes further in to debt. She sues the doctor behind the wheel of the jaguar and manages, with her sharp tongue, to screw herself out of any restitution she might have gotten if she had been demure or even a little bit pitiable.

She goes back to having no education and no job, but with the mounting bills and the loss of the neighbor next door who watches her kids, her luck is getting worse and worse.

She returns to Ed (Albert Finney), the attorney who was supposed to win her case for her, and bullies and then pleads him ino giving her a job. He does it because he's a nice guy and because he's just a little scared of her. He doesn't like it, though, and neither does anyone in the office. She continues to wear her cleavage-bearing or often see-through blouses, obvious push-up bras, thigh high skirts and high heels to the office and with her appearance and brash behavior she makes no friends.

Regardless of appearance and behavior, Erin isn't dumb. She's obviously made stupid decisions but she's not dumb. She isn't lazy either, in fact she has energy to spare. She's a hothead, though, and she doesn't think before she speaks, and that seems to be her major failing. The problem is, what she says is what she thinks, and most of the time she's right. She knows who she is and what she likes and she doesn't really give a good God damn what people think of it. It seems to get her in to trouble, yet it is a desirable attribute.

She is handed a case to research that catches her interest and she asks for time to discover more about it. She is away from the office for some time, and because of how she talks and dresses, not to mention how she got the job, Ed and everyone else thinks she is a no-call, no-show and Ed takes this golden opportunity to fire her. The ladies at the office happily pack up her stuff and when she arrives back in the office, are thrilled to let her know she's got the sack. She throws another hissy fit and goes home to three kids, mounting bills and no prospects. Her new neighbor, a Harley boy who's good with the kids and has begun taking care of them free-of-charge, shows her some kindness.

"Are you something else I'm gonna have to survive?" She asks him. However, she lets him into her bed and her heart.

Meanwhile Ed discovers that the research she has done on that interesting case makes the case even more interesting. Since she knows so much, he hires her back even after she bullies him about a raise and benefits.

The case becomes bigger and bigger and Erin is great with the families who are getting nose bleeds, cancer, their innards rotting and their babies spontaneously aborting due to bad kinds of chromium seeping into their water from a plant nearby. This is something the big company knew about, but lied to them about, telling them that chromium was "good." Erin is thoughtful, kind, and she listens. She works hard and is tenacious. She misses out on family and loses her boyfriend because there are 645 people whose health has been ruined and whose children's children's children will see the effects of this big company's lie. Erin is so tenacious that in doing a huge kindness for people she barely knows (in the beginning), whose luck is far worse than hers ever was, and making a huge sacrifice to that which is important to her (her children), that her luck swings around, and within its arch, it includes everyone around her.

Julia Roberts plays Brockovich - foul-mouthed and sassy, she's amazing. The first shot in the movie is powerhouse, just her face...she's trying to talk some doctor ino giving her a job even though she has no skills or experience. Her crestfallen expression as she realizes she has no chance in hell is our first indication of something big to come. The dialogue, fast and sharp, is delivered by her with such panache as to be electrifying. I can't say enough about her performance in this film, she is magnificent. I tried to find Vivian, her heart o' gold hooker from Pretty Woman, but there was no trace of her. Erin's heart isn't made of gold, it's made of steel, and perhaps that's better.

Roberts' chemistry with Albert Finney is fabulous. Finney himself turns in a remarkable performance as Ed, the beleaguered attorney who has to put up with Brockovich. He seems alternately frightened and in awe of her, and at the same time, kind-hearted and accomplished as a lawyer. He is impressive.

Steven Soderbergh, the director of this picture, gave us a straightforward film, telling us a convoluted tale with a simplicity that makes it enthralling. He shoots Roberts beautifully, often straight on or from a little below so she looks bigger than life. Her energy as Brockovich dominates the screen. Soderbergh has tapped something in her that goes beyond what was required of this role, and makes it a tour-de-force for Roberts, who had to be alternately soft and hard... thoughtless in her drive and the soul of caring.

The movie is funny; many moments were hilarious, which had to be hard to do considering the subject matter. Soderbergh does not bog the film down with sentimentality for the hideous crime that had been committed against these families. Instead, he gives it to us straight and allows us to have whatever reaction will follow.

For example, Marg Helgenberger plays Helen, a woman who has had so much cancer that every part of her that makes her female has been removed. She believes her bad health is just bad luck. The day Erin tells her that what is in the water is what is making her sick, she doesn't believe her. Her daughters are playing in the pool outside and she shakes her head at Erin until Erin convinces her. Then, panicked, she races to the pool and demands that her children get out of the water immediately. Your heart just freezes with her panic, you feel it in your gut as she realizes the slow deaths - ugly, painful - she and her kids are facing. In the movie, Soderbergh has everyone drinking all of the time - tea, water, lemonade, coffee are always sitting around reminding us just how much we depend on our water and how often we use it.

I was impressed with this film - the directing, writing and acting were superb. Erin Brockovich herself has a cameo, and we learn at the end of the film that she is still going strong, researching cases that bring harm to people. She doesn't drive a beat-up car anymore, and I don't think she worries too much about mounting bills. I would bet that she still doesn't worry too much about what people think about her, and I sincerely hope she's still wearing those awful clothes. I bet they look beautiful on her.

CineScene, 2000