Julia Roberts is back again, but this time she's not playing a Pretty Woman. Oh, she's still pretty, but seriously – she's on a crusade in "Erin Brockovich."
Portraying the title character, a twice-divorced mother of three young children, it's a different Julia we see. She has no money, no job, and no prospects when she is involved in an auto accident.
The accident is the other party's fault, but Erin's attorney Ed Masry (Albert Finney) fails to get her a settlement. Desperate to make ends meet, she convinces Ed to give her a job in his law office, although she has no experience. She does, of course, have That Smile.
Looking through some of Ed's files at work one day, Erin comes across puzzling information – some medical records placed in "real estate" files. She questions the connection and asks Ed to let her to look into the matter. Sure enough, she discovers a cover-up involving contaminated water that has been causing devastating illness in a local community. That's all Erin needs to head on out to find the bad guys and bring them to justice.
Don't pooh-pooh the plot, though. The movie is taken from a true story that took place in 1993 and ended up costing California's giant Pacific Gas & Electric Co. a whopping $333 million, the largest settlement of its kind in U.S. history.
The movie was produced by Danny DeVito and directed by Steven Soderbergh.
It is rated R for language.
It started Thursday at Market Square East.
It continues playing at Sunny Isle Theaters.