What's Wrong with Erin Brokovich

She wore this once.

I'm talking about the movie, not the person. I have never met the real Erin Brokovich and I'm sure she's a total sweetheart. Until last night I had never seen the movie named for her either. But a good friend recently claimed it was a "great" film that I "have to see," so last night my hubby fired up the Apple TV and for $3.99 we settled in and watched this 2001 crowd-pleasing, Academy Award winner.

You all probably know all about it so I won't bore you with a plot recap. Suffice it to say that Julia Roberts plays the title character who we meet when she's dead broke. We know this because a close-up shot of her pantry reveals only a box of Mac and cheese and a couple of cans of beans! She's also jobless, her house is overrun with roaches (odd since there's no food), she's got a stack of bills a mile high and her car is a wreck, literally. And of course, there are those three kids to feed and clothe and take to the doctor, etc.

But somehow Erin can afford lots of fancy, albeit slutty, clothes, and many different pairs of high heels, and never shows up in the same outfit twice in the whole damn movie. Same with her earrings, dangling and in-your-face, and never a repeat. (I have been wearing the same pair every day for the last nine years.) And her hair and makeup is perfect all the time -- I wondered, does a stylist come to her trashy dump of a house early each morning?

These details obviously didn't bother anyone else since Roberts won the Oscar that year for Best Actress, and the film was nominated for Best Picture and Stephen Soderbergh for Best Director. (He won, but for Traffic, which was released the same year.) Am I the only one paying attention?