Erin Brockovich 2000, Rated R

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Starring Julia Roberts, Albert Finney, et al. Released to DVD on August 15, 2000.

Erin Brockovich is intelligent, entertaining Hollywood filmmaking. This statement is not a contradiction in terms, nor is it damning with faint praise. It simply reflects the fact that this movie is not epic in nature, nor does it set out to be. Considered on its own scale, however, Erin Brockovich succeeds grandly. Erin Brockovich employs a standard legal narrative involving a small law firm fighting an evil, cancer-causing corporation in an attempt to obtain justice for the many people the corporation has harmed. In and of itself, this storyline is nothing new; very similar plots were on display in A Civil Action and The Castle. Erin Brockovich puts a fresh twist on the genre, however, by inserting a female protagonist into the fray. By focusing on the character of Erin Brockovich (Julia Roberts), a single mother with three young children, the film is given the opportunity to make knowing critics of a legal system that is seen as hyper-rational and lacking a caring ethic. Erin Brockovich is a movie that rarely takes the 'easy' way out. Whether it involves Roberts' relationship with George (Aaron Eckhart) or Brockovich's take on 'The Law', both respective issues are seen in shades of gray rather than strict black and white.

With Erin Brockovich's box office success, one can only hope that Hollywood is learning that intelligence can sell too.