Erin Brockovich DVD > Reviews > Turn Left At The Cleavage

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Outstanding
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Standard
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	Excellent film, impressive DVD features, cheap
Disadvantages:	A couple of the DVD features are dispensible

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

INTRO

Erin Brockovich is a film I fancied seeing from the first time I watched a trailer. I think Julia Roberts is great and have enjoyed many of her films, plus the plot for this one sounded very interesting. But somehow I never managed to see it – until this week, when – after borrowing my friend’s DVD – I finally watched it over two evenings.

FILM

The film is about a remarkable woman called Erin Brockovich. Based on a true story, it describes how this poor, struggling, single mom of three turns her life around by her strength, courage, feistiness and determination.

She wangles her way into a job at the law firm owned by Ed Masry and while going through her general filing duties, she becomes intrigued as to why one particular case includes such things as medical reports amongst all the paperwork. She decides to investigate further.

Driving over to Hinkley, she begins piecing together the clues. Could it really be that a large and powerful company have contaminated the water supply of this town, leading the people there to suffer a long list of illnesses, including cancer?

Erin’s compassion for the Hinkley residents and her anger at the injustice of the situation lead her to relentlessly pursue the case – but at what cost? As she works increasingly long hours, she sees less and less of her children and her boyfriend and even receives a threatening phonecall. Will it all be worth it? Can she really achieve something against such a rich company? Or will she let the residents of Hinkley down, just as they have let her in to their hearts?

CAST

Julia Roberts is excellent as Erin. She is sassy, brassy but so admirable as the character that you will love her from the first scene. The other star here is Albert Finney as the lawyer Ed Masry. He is the perfect combination of charm, charisma, logic and practicality. He is a good lawyer, but not afraid to risk a little bit, to see what happens.

The cast as a whole does a great job though. While Roberts and Finney undoubtedly shine – and their scenes together are superb, showing real chemistry between them – the supporting actors do their parts perfectly too. Even the children in this film are just the right mixture, so they are cute but not too cute, sweet but not sickeningly so and are very realistically portrayed.

DVD EXTRAS

The extra features are animated menus, deleted scenes (with and without Director’s Commentary), filmographies, isolated score, ‘making of’ featurette, theatrical trailer and ‘The Real Erin Brockovich’ featurette. There are also interactive menus to select language, subtitles and scenes.

FILMOGRAPHIES

There are filmographies or ‘Talent Profiles’ of Julia Roberts, Albert Finney and Steven Soderbergh (the director). These consist of still photos alongside a brief biography and short filmography with lists of awards and Oscar nominations. This is fairly well done, but how often would you feel the need to use it? Not often, I believe.

THEATRICAL TRAILER

I found this worth watching, but I definitely suggest you watch it after you have seen the film. I would watch the trailer again, but it does give away far too many spoilers for the film, in my opinion. It was interesting seeing the differences between the trailer and the scenes used in the film, especially noticing the alterations in use of language!

DELETED SCENES

This was very interesting. I suggest you watch the scenes after the film, but directly before watching them with the director’s commentary. I found it fascinating to see new parts of the film, then to hear Soderbergh’s reasoning behind the scenes not making the final film.

Soderbergh comes across as being such a ‘nice bloke’ and his passion for this film shone through and for the movie industry in general. He seemed genuinely saddened by having to cut some of the footage, even if it just contained a particularly nice expression from Albert Finney or was an entertaining scene concentrating on lesser members of the cast.

His reasons were all very valid ones – often due to the film being too long, but also because scenes slowed down that section of the film or they were not as essential as others. It was also interesting to note he cut a scene because of Erin’s character using too harsh a swear word.

I was especially fascinated by the subplot that was almost totally removed and his reasons for this. Soderbergh kept stressing his need to stick closely to Erin’s real story and not use too much artistic licence on it, which I thought was admirable.

FEATURETTES

The ‘Making of’ featurette lasts about fifteen minutes and is well worth watching. As well as interviews with Julia Roberts, Albert Finney and Steven Soderbergh, it also includes interviews with the real Erin Brockovich (who plays a waitress in the film!) and Ed Masry.

I found this fascinating listening to the real two main characters and hearing their version of events and how they felt about the film. I was left feeling the casting was perfect, that Albert Finney and Julia Roberts were uncannily accurate in their portrayals and the director had been very clever in getting the balance just right.

The real Erin and Ed come across as lovely people too. Erin obviously continues to feel a deep emotional attachment to the case and the Hinkley residents. She seems exactly how Julia portrays her in the film – feisty, compassionate and with a steely resolve to fight for those who need assistance.

In contrast, ‘The Real Erin Brockovich’ featurette was disappointing. It lasts less than five minutes and contains more interviews with the real Erin and Ed, but these are filmed in the same locations as in the ‘Making of’ featurette and add very little new. It would seem sensible to have made this section a part of the ‘Making of’ featurette instead.

FILM RATING

The film is rated 15. The only reason for this is the language, but to be honest, if your child has heard the ‘f’ word before, they won’t be shocked watching this. I let my twelve year old watch it and she enjoyed it, although I would be surprised if anyone younger would be able to follow the plot, as it is fairly complicated.

DVD DETAILS

Subtitles in seventeen languages.
Dubbed into German option.
1:1.85

Film runs for 126 minutes.

Available from Amazon for £9.99, usually despatched in 24 hours.

OVERALL

The film is excellent – a good mixture of drama and comedy, with a very high standard of performances throughout. The DVD is worth buying, especially as you can purchase it for less than £10! The ‘making of’ featurette, the trailer, the deleted scenes and, of course, the film itself make this a ‘must have’ in your collection.