Julia Roberts, Albert Finney, Aaron Eckhart, directed by Stephen Soderbergh
Julia Roberts' role as Erin Brockovitch, a poor but assertive single mom, earned her an oscar and I agree that Roberts did an oscarworthy job. Based on a true story, Roberts plays Erin Brockovitch with unusually dark notes in her crusade to win a lawsuit for a town who's suffered the side effects of pollution.
Not that this is entirely the fault of Julia Roberts but Brockovitch's frustration and anger at everyone else in the world for all her stress got too repetitive for me. The element that kept the movie from not boring me out completely, aside from Erin Brockovitch's aggressiveness, was her relationship with eventual boss Ed (Albert Finney). Initially, Ed is a lawyer who fails Brockovitch and enraged at being screwed over she forces him to give her a job there, so she can earn the money he owes. He reluctantly agrees, partly because of a thin layer of compassion under his inhumane lawyer mentality, and the working relationship between the two is very interesting and warm.
In short, as a star vehicle for Julia Roberts to do something serious, yes, this works, but as a movie itself, only partially.