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American Beauty and The Cider House Rules, both winners at Sunday night's Oscar ceremony, performed well at the box office this weekend as audiences checked out the contenders. More moviegoers, however, were checking out Julia Roberts' lead performance in Erin Brockovich, which many Christian critics are predicting will figure prominently in next year's Oscar race.

Christian reviewers were highly pleased with this film, which is based on a true story. The film portrays a down-on-her-luck single mom who helps the cancer-stricken residents of Hinkley, California, form a legal case against the power company that poisoned their groundwater. Roberts' performance earned unanimous praise; The Phantom Tollbooth's J. Robert Parks even forecasts that "Julia can start making plans for the 2001 Oscars. … Here's a meaty role with a lot to do, and Roberts nails every scene." Reviewers had even higher praise for the woman Roberts portrays. Paul Bicking of Preview says "there's much to admire in Erin's character. She respects people and approaches them honestly and sometimes bluntly. When others would give up, she hangs on and fights for those she thinks need her help." Focus on the Family's Steven Isaac echoes those praises: "Erin's compassion and love for people always outshines her drive to win the case. … Erin is callused and hardened by her lot in life and her two derelict ex-husbands, but she never completely closes herself off." Both Bicking and Isaac refrained from recommending the film, however, due to Brockovich's foul language and revealing attire. This was not the case for other critics, who felt these elements were essential to the film. "[The movie] is about Erin's fight for respect and acceptance from a world which tends to judge from appearance only," argues Movie Parables. Holly McClure of Crosswalk.com also took Brockovich's flaws in stride. "The language and revealing cleavage is … more funny than offensive because it's part of her character." Any attacks against Brockovich's character have so far come from mainstream sources. Donna Laframboise of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association writes in National Post that Brockovich is "so profoundly self-centred that feeding her kids is less important to her than wearing … micro miniskirts at the office," for which she risks losing her job. "Narcissism and feminism aren't the same thing." StudentMinistry.net, however, believes Erin is anything but narcissistic—she's one of those people who "pour their hearts into the things in their lives." The movie testifies to "what gets done when you love something."

This martial-arts thriller, which loosely adapts the Romeo and Juliet story and places the conflict within rival gangs on the Oakland waterfront, enjoyed a robust debut despite mostly negative reviews from mainstream and Christian critics. Shakespearean themes didn't rescue the script, which was called "very predictable" by The Movie Reporter, "superficial" by Preview's Paul Bicking, and "a convoluted plot marred by skimpy character development" by the U.S. Catholic Conference. Even the elaborate fight scenes disappointed many, including Movie Parables: "[The director] doesn't entirely trust his star and stunt men to effectively 'wow' the audience with their natural skills. Instead we are subjected to computer assisted feats which idiotically defy the laws of physics, and simulated x-ray photography." But Crosswalk.com's Holly McClure was as captivated as the moviegoing public to the unorthodox approach of the fight sequences. "The impressive Western and Asian stunts are a visual ballet that deliver beautiful and unusual feats while creating stop-action sequences that have never been seen before. … I applaud the creative way this story was visually told."

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March (Web-only) 2000, Vol. 44