A very strong film for the class action-lawsuit legal/drama subgenre
Much more of a triumph for Julia Roberts (her Oscar— in a year with Ellen Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream among others) than for Soderbergh—you can get to a list of 10 superior Soderbergh films very quickly without getting to this one
One of five career noms (to date) for Albert Finney and he’s superb here. He’s got a good heart, fumbling around and awkward a little bit (I love the Magnifying bug-eye like Bifocals)—great back and forths with Roberts
Solid subdued Thomas Newman score
I’m a big fan of Aaron Eckhart here in support as well as well as Tracey Walter in his key scene—always a big fan of him
There are a handful of admirable shots with Soderbergh’s trademark lighting expertise- his orange/yellow/golden hue and glow but clearly he spent more time on his other 2000 release- Traffic
It has the kind of writing I think an actor would think is good but not a critic- lots of speechmaking like her “how many numbers do you want? I got numbers” speech to Eckhart and another one of her memorizing phone numbers. It’s a bit much
It’s a superstar role and Julia Roberts is a superstar—Ex-Beauty queen who is down and out, outspoken, desperate, smart
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