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Erin Brockovich is a 2000 drama film which dramatizes the story of Erin Brockovich's first fight against the American West Coast energy giant Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E). The film was directed by Steven Soderbergh and starred Julia Roberts, who won the Academy Award, Golden Globe, Screen Actors' Guild Award and BAFTA for Best Actress. It is based on a true story and the real Erin Brockovich has a cameo appearance as a waitress named Julia. The film was produced and distributed in North America by Universal Studios, and was distributed overseas by Columbia Pictures[1].
[edit] PlotErin Brockovich (Julia Roberts) was an unemployed single mother of three children who, after losing a personal injury lawsuit against a doctor in a car accident she was in, asks her lawyer, Edward L. Masry (Albert Finney), if he can find her a job in compensation for the loss. Ed gives her work as a file clerk in his office, and she runs across some files on a pro bono case involving medical records in real-estate files and PG&E offering to purchase the home of Hinkley, California resident Donna Jensen. Erin begins digging into the particulars of the case, convinced that the facts simply do not add up, and persuades Ed to allow her further research. After investigation, she discovers a systematic cover-up of the industrial poisoning (hexavalent chromium) of the town of Hinkley's water supply that threatens the health of an entire community. She finds that PG&E is responsible for the extensive illnesses that the residents of Hinkley have been diagnosed with and fights to bring the company to justice. Erin meets a mysterious man in a bar that claimed to Erin to have destroyed documents at PG&E, and discovers a 1966 document that ties a conversation of a corporate executive in the San Francisco PG&E headquarters to the Hinkley station that knew the water was contaminated but didn't do anything about it and advised to keep it a secret from the Hinkley neighborhood. The evidence was examined by a judge without a jury and PG&E was court ordered to pay a settlement amount of $333 million that was divided among the 634 plaintiffs. [edit] Cast
[edit] Reaction[edit] Box officeErin Brockovich was released on March 17, 2000 in 2,848 theaters and grossed $28.1 million on its opening weekend. It went on to make $125.6 million in North America and $130.7 million in the rest of the world for a worldwide total of $256.3 million.[2] [edit] ReviewsThe majority of critics responded favorably towards the film. It holds a certified "Fresh" rating of 83% on film review website Rotten Tomatoes and 73 metascore on Metacritic. Newsweek's David Ansen began his review with "Julia Roberts is flat-out terrific in Erin Brockovich." Even John Simon conceded "yes, she can act." However, film critic Roger Ebert gave the film a two-star review, wrote, "There is obviously a story here, but Erin Brockovich doesn't make it compelling. The film lacks focus and energy, the character development is facile and thin".[3] In his review for the New York Times, A.O. Scott wrote, "After proving, for about 40 minutes, what a marvelous actress she can be, Ms. Roberts spends the next 90 content to be a movie star. As the movie drags on, her performance swells to bursting with moral vanity and phony populism".[4] Peter Travers, in his review for Rolling Stone, wrote, "Roberts shows the emotional toll on Erin as she tries to stay responsible to her children and to a job that has provided her with a first taste of self-esteem".[5] In his review for Entertainment Weekly, Owen Gleiberman gave the film a "B+" rating and wrote, "it's a delight to watch Roberts, with her flirtatious sparkle and undertow of melancholy, ricochet off Finney's wonderfully jaded, dry-as-beef-jerky performance as the beleaguered career attorney who knows too much about the loopholes of his profession to have much faith left in it".[6] [edit] AccuracyWhile the general facts of the story are accurate, there are some minor discrepancies between actual events and the movie, as well as a number of controversial and disputed issues more fundamental to the case. In the film, Erin Brockovich appears to deliberately use her cleavage to seduce the water board attendant to allow her to access the documents. Brockovich-Ellis has acknowledged that her cleavage may have had an influence, but denies consciously trying to influence individuals in this way.[7] In the film, Ed Masry represents Erin Brockovich in the car crash case. In reality, it was Jim Vititoe.[8] Brockovich had never been Miss Wichita. She had been Miss Pacific Coast. According to Brockovich, this detail was deliberately changed by Soderbergh as he thought it was "cute" to have her be beauty queen of the region from which she came.[7] [edit] References
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Categories: 2000 films | American drama films | English-language films | American biographical films | 2000s drama films | Feminist films | Environmental films | American legal films | Films based on actual events | Films directed by Steven Soderbergh | Films produced by Danny DeVito | Films featuring a Best Actress Academy Award winning performance | Films featuring a Best Drama Actress Golden Globe winning performance | Universal Pictures films | Columbia Pictures films | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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