Best Actress: Julia Roberts
We've made it to the 21st century!
What a ride, gang. Feels like this has been going on forever
Briefly, Erin Brockovich is based on the life of the woman of the same name, who helped bring about the largest, at the time, case settlement between a mega-corporation and the small-town citizens they'd poisoned through the groundwater and covered up for decades. The real Erin Brockovich stated in an interview that it's about 98% accurate, which is particularly high for biopics, so that also skyrockets my enjoyment of this film.
Julia Roberts was America's Sweetheart for over a decade by the time she finally walked up onto the Oscar stage to accept her award. A few nominations later, she gave a deliciously kooky speech where she told the conductor to put down his stick, because she was going to take her time (she said something along the lines of 'I already have a television' in response to the promise of a new TV to the shortest acceptance speech).
As Erin Brockovich, Julia has the tall task of making this bombastic powerhouse of a woman never feel like a caricature in her push-up bras and mini skirts, or with the foul mouth. You have to believe that Julia, as Erin, cares about the over 600 people who sign onto the class action suit against PG&E and can spit facts about each one at a second's notice. You have to believe that she's really down to the last $100 in her wallet and that she hungers to provide for her children; that she can do all this without any prior work experience or higher education; and that she has the charisma to constantly battle back against corporations, her coworkers at the law firm (including a sublime Albert Finney), and the partners who attempt to swoop in last minute and dash her hopes of getting the town of Hinkley a settlement worthy of the paper it's printed on.
That Julia Roberts can command the screen for two hours is not new information, but that she can make this movie engaging and engrossing, and pull off a performance like that at the same time? Oscar well deserved.
Julia was nominated against Joan Allen (The Contender), Juliette Binoche (Chocolat), Ellen Burstyn (Requiem for a Dream), and Laura Linney (You Can Count on Me).
I do love Ellen Burstyn's performance in Requim for a Dream; if I'm being honest, it terrifies me and I have no real desire to rewatch this film because of it. It would have been a more worthy, in my opinion, film to reward her with than Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, but then you'd have her waiting decades for the accolade when she should've won it for The Exorcist to begin with.
Anyway, it's not a wonder Julia won, and I might have been split between her and Ellen (and probably done a coin flip to figure out how to vote).
DID I LIKE ERIN BROCKOVICH? Yes, more than I remember liking it!
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Did you like Erin Brockovich? What are your thoughts on Julia Roberts's Oscar win?
Keep up with all my Rewatching the Best Actresses posts here.
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