Erin Brockovich (2000)

Elevator Pitch: A former beauty queen and now single mother while searching for work has a car accident which involves her with a local law firm. She blaggs her way into a job in it, and accidentally uncovers a major pollution event where an elecricity generating company has polluted the water table and as a result all the local residents are suffering from a variety of cancers. She persuades her boss to initiate a class action and her direct way of speaking and extravert form of dress proves to be an advantage in the legal environment as they take on the  electricity company.

Content: A biker who comes to live next door is attracted to Erin and we see them in bed together, afterwards he looks after the children, not always happily. Erin argues with everybody in sight and drives about a lot, charming the inhabitants of the polluted area. They must be convinced to accept a judicial ruling rather than going for a jury trial which will enable the company to appeal for years. She generally flaunts her cleavage to get the not very smart men on her side and swears a lot.  There is just a bit of drinking.

A View: This movie was well received by the critics except for Roger Ebert, and Julia Roberts won “Best Actress” at the Oscars and in many other award ceremonies. My wife kept wondering where she got the money for all the different outfits Erin wore, but maybe she went to Primark. We did not really see much of the opposition and so the film never develops the tension we have recently experienced in the 2019 “Dark Waters”, but it is always worth seeing major companies, who seem to have no concience, being brought to book. So worth a watch at its 20th anniversary.

Additional Info: Julia Roberts is not anywhere near being the best paid actress today, but she received $20 million for her part in this movie, probably making her the best paid in 2000.