Erin Brockovich

Rating:
Summary: less enjoyable than could be
Review: Erin Brocovich made me cry i'll addmit it. But There was so much language and revieling clothing it made it less enjoyable then could be. Wile it presented talented acting and some good morals on the whole it was about a woman who used her body (cleavage mostley) to get were she got in life.

Rating:
Summary: Not Just Abstract!
Review: Dear Potentional Erin Brockovic Viewers: This is an absolute must see movie. NOT just a "chick flick" you want realistic kick ass video (besides "Fight Club")? A true inspiration to all young single honest hard working parents out there. Julia Roberts does an outstanding job portraying the real Erin's trial and tribulations. Think having no background law education, or any courtroom experience cant still make you a lawyer? Think you've got NO chance going against a multi million industry? Bullsh*t! Then you need to watch Erin Brockovich.

Rating:
Summary: the most unlikebable character in film history
Review: i went into this movie not expecting much. i expected not to like. i had no idea that i would be absolutely repulsed. for one thing this idea has been done before. i had already seen civil action with john travolta, which is much better. for one thing travolta can act, and julia roberts can't.
but the big problem with the movie is erin herself. she is just so unlikable. there is a real problem with a movie when you're rooting against the "heroine." she has 3 kids, no husband and no job. i've heard this before. she plays the victim thing real well. she complains about everything. she demands a job just because her lawyer couldn't win her lawsuit for her. maybe it was the fact that she was't that injured or she cursed at the judge and the jury. does she blame anything on herself? of course not. she blames it on ed, her lawyer(the only real likeable character in the film) for a job. she has no skills of course, and doesn't really wear any clothes. and of course when ed asks her to wear more business like clothes, she curses him off, like she does with everyone else. when ed offers to rehire her, she demands a raise, saying "i can get a job anywhere." really? what arrogance. she's supposed to be a great mother but does she actually spend anytime with them. no? she dumps them off on her semi-boyfriend george. george eventually leaves because he doesn't want to be treated like some slave, but of course erin manages to say that "my two ex-husbands never gave me much choice." please. ...
then there's the people themselves. it's horrible what's happening to a lot of them. it's sad. erin says they don't really care about the money, but they certainly complain a lot when their worried they might make 50 million dollars instead of 400 million.
there is just nothing to this movie. it's all been done before, and it's all predictable. the whole point of the movie is to like erin brockovich, but she just makes you want to smash your television. recommendation: see civil action. it's basically the same movie and there's no erin brockovich.

Rating:
Summary: A Nice Return to the Feel of the Original
Review: The general consensus is that ROCKY was great, ROCKY's II and III were good, ROCKY IV was blech, and ROCKY V was a complete misfire. Not so! If anything, ROCKY V comes closest to recapturing the feel that made the original so endearing. Particularly affecting is a flashback scene with Mickey, Rocky's trainer, and a gentle scene between Rocky and Adrian remembering how it all started. ROCKY V isn't perfect, but scenes such as these justify a look.

Rating:
Summary: Julia Roberts CAN act!
Review: OK....I've always found Julia Roberts pleasant, but figured her acting range was probably somewhere in the same force as a Daisy Air Rifle (I DID see Mary Reilly, after all!). I was amazed. She fleshed out a seriously flawed character and gives her warmth, charm, and grit.

My one flaw with the movie is Erin's full-force bravado that comes with little reproach. She manages to fire off some SERIOUSLY mean things, but yet is never really heald accountable for them. Hard to suspend my disbelief when most real life situations calling for this would probably get you belted.

Overall, a seriously well acted film that horrifically depicts the corrupting power of a large corporation and it's ripple effect on a community and on lives. But it also shows how much power one person really can have.

Rating:
Summary: Cute nice funny great movie
Review: This was a great movie for me. I was not expecting a lot from it, but at the end I watched it 3 times. It is fun, relaxing, you spend a very nice time. I really recomend it.

Rating:
Summary: Don't bother with the facts!
Review: This is basically a movie of the week,except for the presence of Julia Roberts.This movie,like any Hollywood production doesn't bother with the facts,only with what makes drama and pulls at the heartstrings.This movie is more fairy tale than anything and paints one side(Brokovich and her lawyers)as the "Good guys" and the Gas company as the BIG<EVIL monster.Go to Fumento.com for a few real facts on the case.First of all it has never been established that Chromium 6(supposedly the cause of Hinckley residents illnesses)is a toxic agent except when inhaled.But laywers knew that a 30 billion dollar corporation would make a rich target.So they set out to find as many sick people as they could find,and lo and behold,with a few town meetings and intentional playing around with facts and manipulating peolple's fear you had a movement with momentum.Eventually,PG&E settled for $333 million,and of course the lawyers got a nice,fat sum for themselves(40%).Some of the plaintifs still haven't received any money.Of course during the trial,just like in this movie,facts never got in the way of a good victimology,good vs. evil story.With a society so despicably deficient in science it only makes sense that rackets like this could be carried out.By the way Brockovich and team have tried to pull their shenanigans elsewhere with little success.Second note:When news outlets went and interviewed residents of Hinckley the general consensus was that the only factual part of the movie was the name of the lawyer! All in all, a wretched,exploitative and shameful movie.

Rating:
Summary: PCism and Death to Cinema
Review: Let's start with Julia Roberts. Let's face it, she is a hack actress. But she is a "star" and she puts butts in the seats. Only 30 plus women admire her and buy tickets. Let's see, an Oscar for being another one of her usual on screen loud bombastic characters? Given that her character was one of today's PCims's most popular--the struggling single mother, I can see why she won. That isn't merit!

More disappointing was the brilliant director Steven Soderbrugh. What cinematic genius when he made stuff like "Kafka" "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" to name a few. I am a fan. But now he has become a Hollywood sell out. Like this made for TV crap with "stars" in it, and now "Ocean's 16 or Whatever."

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Film
Review: I think that almost everyone is familiar with this film version of how Erin Brokovitch took on a large corporation that had knowingly polluted the water supply of a small town, and through their intentional cover-up had adversely affected the health of almost everyone in that town. This is a true life David and Goliath story. Only, in this case, "David's" weapons were chutzpa, perseverance, cleavage, and a big dose of commitment to something she believed in, instead of a sling and a stone.

Brockovich was no dummy. To the contrary, as portrayed by Julia Roberts, (one of my favorite actresses!) she was bright, articulate (if a little earthy), and always aware of her impact on people. She had a natural empathy that people could feel. Consequently they liked her and responded to her. This applies, from what I've read, to the real life Brockovich, and certainly to the screen Brockovich. Julia Roberts' manner of dressing was, if anything, toned down a bit from that of the real life Erin Brockovich. For those who found Roberts' attire distracting, I wonder how you would have responded to the real Erin.

Albert Finney played her boss, a moderately successful "shirt-sleeve" attorney who had a lot to lose if the lawsuit went awry. He gave this role just the right blend of wit, concern, fear, anger, and elation. He's the attorney that we'd all like to find.

I found this movie to be entertaining, well acted, satisfying, and one that I can watch and watch with feeling so happy at the end. See it to know what I mean....

Rating:
Summary: For a "real" movie, no one seems real.
Review: There's nothing new from Julia Roberts in this movie. I have no idea what sort of woman the real Erin Brockovich was from Roberts' portrayal. This is just another movie in which Roberts turns her character into a form of herself. The only things I know about Brockovich from this movie, if it can be trusted for giving a correct portrayal of the woman, is that she is extremely brash and vulgar. I also highly doubt that the people that were actually surrounding this woman were as bland as they were made out to be.

When the movie finally comes around to the storyline about the contamination, everything smooths out a bit, and it becomes easier to overlook the sloppy characterization of just about everyone in this film. The only bits of description for the smaller characters were added to make the crude Brockovich look like a saint. If the real world were as full as such terrible people as in this movie, there would be no hope for civilization to last more than a few more years. And if Brockovich, as she is portrayed in the movie, were our salvation, like in the movie, we would be doomed.

As a writer, it always pains me to see a movie that could have been good completely wasted because of the screenplay. There's no excuse for secondary characters to be written as cardboard, or maybe that feeling only comes out in Julia Roberts films. And truthfully, her acting was just as dull as it normally is.