China Syndrome lite

>> Julia Roberts plays environmentalist Erin Brockovich

by MATTHEW HAYS

Steven Soderbergh's latest film, a personal drama that concerns a plot revolving around an environmental lawsuit, is full of comeuppance moments. Those are the scenes when people in the story, who have disparaged our heroine, get ridiculed, put down and generally put in their place by her.

These moments, usually dredged up in the most simplistic and banal of screenplays, generally seem condescending and rather stupid to me. But the audience at the premiere of Erin Brockovich seemed to think Julia Roberts, as the film's saintly central figure, was downright hilarious when she ticked people off. If someone didn't like her clothing, she'd simply shoot right back that they were ugly, or their clothing was uglier, or that they were fat and/or stupid. That showed 'em! And the crowd roared their delight. These simplistic comeuppance moments are tantamount to someone getting a pie in the face or slipping on a banana peel as payback for being nasty.

Unfortunately, much of what this film does is replace truly thoughtful moments with comeuppance moments like these. Soderbergh, generally regarded as an ace director, is handed a slovenly screenplay here, and it's too bad. Too bad because the true story upon which Brockovich is based is a damn good one, a tale which cries out for cinematic treatment.

Brockovich was a single mom, struggling with three children and desperately unemployed, who managed to snag a job at a law firm (in the film, the firm is run by Albert Finney). With no legal training, Brockovich was regarded as someone who'd simply file things all day. But when she came across some medical evaluations slipped into real estate files, something seemed odd to her. Brockovich proceeded to uncover a major environmental scandal, one which involved a massive multinational corporation, with the resulting lawsuit netting a record settlement for the complainants ($333 million).

But instead of creating a truly captivating film about a determined woman intent on getting to the bottom of a nasty conspiracy (à la The China Syndrome), Brockovich feels more like Pretty Woman meets Flashdance, except instead of being a welder/dancer, she's a mother/legal assistant.

Despite the culled-from-real-life tag on the film, any sense of reality is sunk by the entirely unrealistic scenes that unfold: Roberts telling her boss off, but he doesn't get too pissed off because he likes her spunk; Roberts ticking off an uptight legal assistant, telling her she has "two wrong feet and ugly shoes!" (Way to go, Julia!)

Simplicity is key here, as well, of course, as glorifying the central figure in this star vehicle. Suffice it to say this is the polished version of what went on. Between the cheap gags and bare-bones plot, all I could think about was what was being excluded from the actual story. Guess we'll have to wait for the A&E documentary on Brockovich.

Erin Brockovich opens Friday, March 10.