Erin Brockovich Poster

Erin Brockovich (2000)

Biography  
Rayting:   7.3/10 176.3K votes
Country: USA
Language: English
Release date: 27 April 2000

An unemployed single mother becomes a legal assistant and almost single handedly brings down a California power company accused of polluting a city's water supply.

Movie Trailer

Where to Watch

  • Buy
  • Subs.
  • Buy
  • Buy

User Reviews

joepanger 4 June 2016

What happens when you mix a struggling, single mother of three, an accident, and a lawyer together? Well, you get Erin Brockovich. A film written by Susannah Grant and directed by Steven Soderbergh, this is an Oscar-winning biographical drama that is based on a portion of the life of Erin Brockovich, a woman that has dealt with unemployment, poverty, and just plain bad luck. Erin lives in Hinkley, California, a small town located between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, Nevada. That is where she and her three children live on the fringes of poverty in a small house located in a suburban neighborhood. To exacerbate an already unfortunate situation, one day, after Erin leaves an unsuccessful job interview, she gets into an accident, suffering damages to herself as well as her car. To add to her frustrations, her appointed lawyer, Ed Masry, is unsuccessful in winning her settlement case. After a heated confrontation with Mr. Masry in his office, Erin comes out of there with a job as a legal clerk for Mr. Masry. Her employment under Mr. Masry eventually leads her on a unwitting path to fight for justice against PG&E, an electric/utility giant. In the film, Brockovich is tasked by Mr. Masry to look into a case where the plaintiffs were suing PG&E for damages due to groundwater contamination caused by dumping waste-water which contaminated neighboring water supplies. As the film progresses, more and more victims of PG&E's contamination come forward and join Brockovich to fight against the giant. Although this film is a biographical drama, I would also suggest to Mr. Soderbergh that this is one of the best documentaries I've seen. You may ask: "What are you talking about? This isn't a documentary! This isn't even close to a documentary." Well, I'll have to stop you there. Although the film is captured in a dramatic way, the focus of the movie is not the drama, rather, the events. The film detailed the conditions that not only the protagonist, Brockovich was faced with, but those affected by PG&E, as well. Erin Brockovich was able to create a more powerful message that not only addressed environmental awareness but also corporate greed. One thing I liked about the film was that it wasn't littered with special effects or over-the-top dramatic music. Films that are considered documentaries nowadays are usually chalk-full of propagandic editing and loaded questions. This is especially prevalent in environmental documentaries. This type of documentary usually leads viewers to one conclusion: that corporations are bad, and the environment is dying. Overflowing with dramatic music and cut-offs, those kinds of films, to me, should be considered dramas, not Erin Brockovich. Erin Brockovich is able to make viewers aware of those issues, and more. Grant and Soderbergh immerse the viewer into the movie by giving a context for which many viewers can connect to or sympathize with: a single mom that has nothing but a few dollars, 3 mouths to feed, and a wild personality. She is split into many directions, and her personality is what gets her into as well as out of sticky situations. By introducing us to Erin, a mother, a foundation for connections are established with the viewer. They also introduce realistic conflict into the movie. In addition to her struggles for employment, Soderbergh includes a romantic relationship that the real Brockovich had with a neighbor, named George. Even after she eventually pulls her and her family out of near destitution, she is faced with the task of balancing her passion for her

Buddy-51 12 August 2000

Fmovies: In its story, `Erin Brockovich' breaks little new ground. Essentially, it joins the ranks of earlier films such as `Silkwood,' `The Insider,' `A Civil Action,' `The Rainmaker,' among others, each of which tells the tale of a common `David' (be it in the form of a whistleblowing employee or compassionate, righteous lawyer) who, against all odds, mounts a seemingly quixotic crusade against a corporate Goliath. All the above five films expose the shoddy and often malevolent business practices of companies that have resulted in major health care crises for both their own employees as well as the residents who live near the companies' facilities. In the case of `Erin Brockovich,' the villain is the PG&E electrical plant located in the desert community of Hinckley, near Barstow, California. It seems that the residents of this small town have been experiencing a mind-bogglingly high number of serious illnesses and miscarriages that PG&E has assured them are not in any way related to the activities at their site. The company has even brought in medical professionals and toxicologists to assuage the residents' growing fears. Almost by chance, Erin Brockovich stumbles onto this information and takes up the challenge of fighting for the rights of these victims and exposing PG&E's gross malfeasance in the process.

Looking at its bare-boned plotting, one must concede that there really isn't much that is new here. However, thanks to a pair of utterly smashing performances by Julia Roberts and Albert Finney and a beautifully well-rounded portrait of a real-life heroine, this Steven Soderbergh film emerges as a true crowd-pleasing triumph. This may, in fact, be not only Roberts' best performance, but her finest role as well. Erin is not a conventional do-gooder heroine. First of all, she is often abrasive and off-putting in her demeanor. Dressed more like a fashion devotee of Roberts' `Pretty Woman' call girl character than a serious legal executive, Erin often launches into unrestrained, obscenity-laced tirades at her boss, her loving boyfriend, even the corporate lawyer bigwigs sent to help her when the case she is making comes close to completion. Yet, it is just this no-nonsense directness that earns her the confidence of the people she is trying so desperately to help. A twice-divorced mother of three, she is as passionate in the defense of her own children as she is in the defense of her case. Yet, she is a woman made up of any number of internal contradictions. Much as she loves her children, she has made a shambles of her life in recent years. Rootless and lacking the skills necessary to procure a well-paying job, she practically has to beg to get hired in the office of a lawyer who has failed to win her a settlement in a traffic accident case. Staunchly individualistic, she refuses to tone down her rhetoric or her temper – or to adopt the more `professional' attire of the business world – even if it might mean that she would be taken more seriously by those around her. She assumes that no man would be willing to consider having a serious relationship with her because of her children and marital track record, yet, when a man enters her life doing just that, her insecurities and her intense commitment to the cause for which she is fighting begin to drive him away – and her children as well. Most fascinatingly, perhaps, we are led to wonder whether it is really the suffering people who motivate her obsessive commitment or rather, as she herse

bob the moo 21 February 2003

Out of work, out of hope, trashy, twice divorced single mother Erin fails to get another job due to her lack of experience. On her way home she is hit by another car. She goes to lawyer Ed Masry who spectacularly fails to win her any damages. Erin demands he gives her a job and he begrudgingly does. Doing some of his pro-bono work, Erin uncovers evidence that suggests that manufacturing firm PG&E had poisoned the local water supply and lie to residents about the content. As she looks deeper she finds a legacy of illness and a small bit of research turns into a mammoth case.

I don't know how much of this drama is factual and how much of it is changed to add to dramatic effect but regardless the story is involving, funny and moving. At the time there was a rash of 'environmental damage' legal films of which this is one of the more polished and classy. The film focuses as much on Erin as it does on the case and at times it risked failing as a legal drama/thriller. However it still grips as the facts pretty much speak for themselves – the film adds to this by creating a real sense of PG&E as a monster without scruples or concern for the residents. As a result the events feel more powerful and involving. It feels slow at times, but if you're into it then it feels patient rather than slow and deliberate rather than laboured.

The biggest reason that the focus on Erin works is because Roberts really does very well giving her Erin a down to earth, trashy feel that could have been hammy or unbelievable (she is a multimillion pound actress after all), but it wasn't. Instead it was realistic and quite warm – where she could have been annoying. The grumpy Finney is also good value and seems natural in the role. Eckhart is almost too good to be true but gives a likable performance and is a winning non-distraction.

The film benefits from the style that Soderbergh brings to it. It glides with the grace that he brought to Ocean's 11 and has the rich colouring that parts of Traffic had. His direction really adds to the film and makes the sum feel a little greater that the parts put together.

Overall this may not be the legal thriller that you hoped for and it may move a great deal slower that I thought a Hollywood film would, but it is worth it. The film is patient and worth baring with and Roberts is actually pretty good in the lead! Enjoyable.

nzpedals 30 May 2016

Erin Brockovich fmovies. It doesn't take long to realise that this is a great movie. Everything looks so real, and so it should seeing that it is a true(ish) story, but all the minor roles have great actors too. There are lots of instances where little mannerisms make it real. My guess is that Erin wrote most of the dialogue?

Besides the real Brockavich, the real Ed Masry comes on the DVD bonus, and shows how good the casting of Albert Finney, and his acting, are and how much he contributed to the successful outcome of EB's efforts. Ed is so tolerant of Erin's apparent disregard for the norms of a legal practice, it is a bit hard to accept that he is for real! But he must have been. Also on the DVD is Erin (the real one) saying how surreal is the 30-second scene where she is the waitress, and then Julia saying that it is about "inhabiting the concept, not imitating". So true, and that is what makes really great actors, ie, JR.

The story of corporate carelessness and a small-town lady who found out that the water was contaminated and decided to do something about it in spite of heavy lawyers who do whatever the client says, might give others the incentive to do their own action? 'hope so.

Although this is a huge legal battle, there is very little of that shown - good idea, courtroom stuff can be so boring and irrelevant. We do see the judge deliver a judgement on a procedural matter, that is all that matters, and the no doubt long legal arguments are ignored all together. Good.

iprudd 7 May 2001

After all of the hype surrounding this film I was prepared to be disappointed. I was not! This film deserved to win Roberts the Oscar, her performance was superb. She plays the seemingly white trash Erin who may not have the qualifications but does not lack the intelligence. Through a simple research job she discovers that a large corporation has been poisoning the water supply of a town. She fights their corner for them and eventually secures them a huge court settlement. It is not plain sailing for Erin as she has to overcome stereotypes and prejudice but she wins through in the end through her hard work and determination. Finney provides sterling support and his exchanges with Roberts provide some classic moments. I cannot recommend this film highly enough!

mikel weisser 5 May 2002

Steven Soderbergh's Erin Brockovich is exactly the uplift picture you've always hoped for. strong acting, moving script, important issues, legitimate procedurals and best of all it is scrupulously faithful to its true story. Struggling outspoken single mom, Erin (the Oscar winning performance by Julie Roberts proving irrevocably that she is more than just tits and teeth), gets on with a law firm run by Ed Masry (Albert Finney in a justifiably nominated supporting role)just in time to break open the biggest direct action corporate lawsuit in american history. it is not a simple magic act either. Erin's got her character flaws (many of which are visited on supportive biker boyfriend George, played by Aaron Eckhart) and the lawsuit is immensely complicated, though Screenwriter Susannah Grant's nominated script keeps it all in focus and understandable. It's the kind of story we can all learn a lot from. Erin works her tail off, polishes her own too harsh rough edges and ultimately wins a richly deserved reward (just the film itself was so amply rewarded.)It's a story that inspires americans to believe in the system and fight against corporate injustice on their own personal level. It's the kind of thing that shows each and every person can make a big difference. everybody should be proud of soderbergh for realizing what a huge hero Erin Brockovich is and for bringing her struggles and triumphs to the screen.

Similar Movies

9.0
Rocketry: The Nambi Effect

Rocketry: The Nambi Effect 2022

7.0
Gangubai Kathiawadi

Gangubai Kathiawadi 2022

7.6
Elvis

Elvis 2022

8.3
Major

Major 2022

7.8
Thirteen Lives

Thirteen Lives 2022

7.4
Jhund

Jhund 2022

7.1
Rescued by Ruby

Rescued by Ruby 2022

6.9
Jerry and Marge Go Large

Jerry and Marge Go Large 2022


Share Post

Direct Link

Markdown Link (reddit comments)

HTML (website / blogs)

BBCode (message boards & forums)

Watch Movies Online | Privacy Policy
Fmovies.guru provides links to other sites on the internet and doesn't host any files itself.