Erin Brockovich
Rent & Buy
A twice-divorced mother of three who sees an injustice, takes on the bad guy and wins -- with a little help from her push-up bra. Erin goes to work for an attorney and comes across medical records describing illnesses clustered in one nearby town. She starts investigating and soon exposes a monumental cover-up.
What critics thought
Steven Soderbergh's legal drama earned strong but not universal praise, with the central debate landing squarely on Julia Roberts: most critics found her performance the film's greatest asset, but a vocal minority felt she coasted on star charisma once the early scenes established her range. The script's structure and focus were also disputed — admirers loved its feisty, self-aware humor as a corrective to po-faced courtroom dramas, while detractors found the character work thin and the film's energy flagging.
“Roberts has wasted her effervescence on many paltry projects, but she hits the jackpot this time. Erin, single mother of three, a former Miss Wichita who improbably rallies a community to take on a multi-billion-dollar corporation, is the richest role of her career, simultaneously showing off her comic, dramatic and romantic chops”
David Ansen·Newsweek
“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”
A.O. Scott·The New York Times
“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”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“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”
Owen Gleiberman·Entertainment Weekly
“a movie that uses a wicked sense of humor to examine serious themes. It's the kind of David-vs.-Goliath story told in The Insider and A Civil Action, but it drops the self-importance of those movies and replaces it with a refreshingly feisty attitude”
Robert Philpot·Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Accolades
Genres
Biography, Drama
Cast & Crew
Steven SoderberghDirector
Julia RobertsErin Brockovich
Albert FinneyEd Masry
Aaron EckhartGeorge
Marg HelgenbergerDonna Jensen
Cherry JonesPamela Duncan
Veanne CoxTheresa Dallavale
Conchata FerrellBrenda
Tracey WalterCharles Embry
Peter CoyoteKurt Potter
Michael HarneyPete Jensen
Scarlett PomersShanna Jensen
Scotty LeavenworthMatthew Brown
Thomas NewmanComposer
Susannah GrantWriter
Edward LachmanCinematographyErin Brockovich
A twice-divorced mother of three who sees an injustice, takes on the bad guy and wins -- with a little help from her push-up bra. Erin goes to work for an attorney and comes across medical records describing illnesses clustered in one nearby town. She starts investigating and soon exposes a monumental cover-up.
What critics thought
Steven Soderbergh's legal drama earned strong but not universal praise, with the central debate landing squarely on Julia Roberts: most critics found her performance the film's greatest asset, but a vocal minority felt she coasted on star charisma once the early scenes established her range. The script's structure and focus were also disputed — admirers loved its feisty, self-aware humor as a corrective to po-faced courtroom dramas, while detractors found the character work thin and the film's energy flagging.
“Roberts has wasted her effervescence on many paltry projects, but she hits the jackpot this time. Erin, single mother of three, a former Miss Wichita who improbably rallies a community to take on a multi-billion-dollar corporation, is the richest role of her career, simultaneously showing off her comic, dramatic and romantic chops”
David Ansen·Newsweek
“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”
A.O. Scott·The New York Times
“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”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“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”
Owen Gleiberman·Entertainment Weekly
“a movie that uses a wicked sense of humor to examine serious themes. It's the kind of David-vs.-Goliath story told in The Insider and A Civil Action, but it drops the self-importance of those movies and replaces it with a refreshingly feisty attitude”
Robert Philpot·Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Accolades
Genres
Biography, Drama
Cast & Crew
Steven SoderberghDirectorJulia RobertsErin BrockovichAlbert FinneyEd MasryAaron EckhartGeorgeMarg HelgenbergerDonna JensenCherry JonesPamela DuncanVeanne CoxTheresa DallavaleConchata FerrellBrendaTracey WalterCharles EmbryPeter CoyoteKurt PotterMichael HarneyPete JensenScarlett PomersShanna JensenScotty LeavenworthMatthew BrownThomas NewmanComposerSusannah GrantWriterEdward LachmanCinematographyRent & Buy