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Erin Brokovich reminds me, strangely, of the ESPN original
movie "Season on the Brink" about Indiana Basketball
coach Bobby Knight. Knight is famous for being one of the best
basketball coaches in the country – and a class A jerk.
It was hyped so much by ESPN, I assumed that it would glorify
Knight and tell us that he really wasn’t such a bad guy
after all. Now the made for TV movie did show the softer side
of Knight at times, but it held nothing back in showing us his
dark side too. In fact, I disliked Knight even more after the
movie than before. It’s a similar situation with Erin
Brokovich, which is also based on a true story. I cheered
for her, I was happy for her, but I still don’t like her.
Erin Brokovich (Julia Roberts) is a single mother, twice-divorced,
with three kids and no job. After getting into an accident, she
wiggles her way into getting work at the lawyer’s office.
She also meets a tattooed, bearded, motorcycle-riding guy named
George (Aaron Eckhart) who offers to watch her kids while she’s
at work. Why he stays there with them for six months, while she
is usually away from home, we’re never really told. At work,
Erin works with the lawyer, Ed Masry (Albert Finney), to uncover
the mass cover-up of a company that has allowed disease-causing
toxins to get into the water of a California town.
Erin Brockovich has its moments, but for the most part
feels like a made for TV movie disguised with some good acting
on Roberts’ part and some good film work on Sodorbergh’s
part. Roberts really is surprisingly good and director Steven
Soderbergh’s picture is always interesting. But it’s
the story that slows it down. It’s a great story in itself,
a story that if you heard it, you would say, “They should
make a movie out that.” But the film’s insistence
on simply telling a story instead of also saying something more
gives it that strong made for TV Movie-esque feel.
It’s fun, though, to watch Erin get pissed off whenever
people are being squirrelly or things aren’t going her way.
It’s also fun to watch her, as the underdog, outsmart her
authorities and opponents. But we never get a change of heart.
We never see her become a better person after everything she’s
been through. Maybe it’s because she’s not. If that's
the case, then props to Soderbergh and Co. for not sugarcoating
the character. But even still, it’s difficult to like a
story when you can never come to really like the protagonist.
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