Cider House Rules, Brockovich break onto video, DVD

In this story: Cider House Rules Erin Brockovich RELATED STORIES, SITES

By Scott Hettrick

Cider House Rules

(Miramax, VHS priced for rental, DVD $32.98, rated PG-13) 1999.
Directed by Lasse Hallstrom; starring Tobey Maguire, Michael Caine, Charlize Theron, Delroy Lindo, Paul Rudd, Jane Alexander, Kathy Baker, Erykah Badu, Kieran Culkin and Kate Nelligan.

Michael Caine deservedly won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in "Cider House Rules." In fact, all the performances in the movie are top-notch, including that of star Tobey Maguire ("Ice Storm," "Pleasantville").

"Cider House Rules" is a refreshing and increasingly rare movie that features a multilayered story with many well-drawn characters of depth told by fine performances.

If there are knocks against it, "Cider House Rules" does at times appear to try to do too much and often takes the viewer far adrift from the original story line and main characters in search of another story thread (which does eventually weave together with the original). But the effect along the way is, at times, that the viewer may become momentarily disengaged before shifting gears emotionally and becoming acquainted with alternate characters and story lines without knowing the outcome of initial ones.

The story begins as a narrated account by a Dr. Larch (Caine), a kind-hearted man who works at an orphanage. He initially appears to be rather emotionally uninvolved with the dozens of babies he delivers, or the kids that reside there at the orphanage. That is, until a child called Homer (Maguire) comes along. Larch has big plans for Homer, whom he trains to become a doctor's aide.

Homer grows up, and as a teen-ager, he decides he must go out into the world, disappointing Larch, who wants Homer to replace him. The two-hour movie then has a long section that tracks Homer's adventures as a young single man in the world for the first time. He gets a job, meets a nice group of people with whom he lives and works, and even experiences first love and sex.

If all that weren't enough, there is another entirely separate story going on that seemingly diverts from the original, involving racial issues and incest.

Eventually, director Lasse Hallstrom manages to bring it all together, weaving it into one handsome fabric, with sufficient credibility.

(Universal, VHS $22.98, DVD $26.98, rated R) 2000.
Directed by Steven Soderbergh; starring Julia Roberts, Albert Finney, Aaron Eckhart, Marg Helgenberger, Cherry Jones and Peter Coyote.

This may appear to be one of those films about a great injustice to the common man being corrected by a noble crusader.

But even though the underlying story is about the building of a monstrous class action lawsuit against Pacific Gas & Electric Co. for polluting water with chemical toxins that allegedly brought disease to hundreds of residents and was eventually settled for $330 million, there is a reason the movie is called "Erin Brockovich." This is first and foremost a story about the outlandish, foul-mouthed, bull-headed, former Wichita beauty queen and twice-divorced single mother of three children who spearheaded the lawsuit at a time when she was near destitute.

Roberts delivers a convincing portrayal of Brockovich, and Finney is strong as the aging attorney she badgers into giving her a job.

Aaron Eckhart is also quite charming as the biker-next-door who becomes her long-suffering boyfriend and overly exploited baby-sitter for her adorable kids.

One word of warning: Be prepared for a shocking automobile collision in the early moments of the film that will jolt you off your sofa.

If you think Roberts' language is too coarse, you should hear the word she uses in a scene that was deleted. Director Steven Soderbergh ("sex, lies & videotape") says during audio comments of the supplemental section on the DVD version of "Erin Brockovich" that his first cut of the movie was 3 hours and 15 minutes. About 30 minutes of the scenes he cut out are featured on the DVD, including a whole series of scenes related to Brockovich getting a bloody nose while driving and later collapsing, being hospitalized and diagnosed with meningitis as a result of her exposure to the toxins. During the optional commentary over the deleted scenes, Soderbergh explains that he didn't want to misleadingly imply during the picture that this was going to be one of those movies in which the lead character succumbs to the very disease and poisons she is fighting, and winds up dying.

Most of the dozen-plus other scenes were felt to be either redundant examples of relationships or introductory segments to scenes that could be trimmed to help cut the running time by an hour. Even at that, Soderbergh says he would like to have brought the movie in about five minutes shorter than it is.

The DVD also features an on-camera interview with the real Erin Brockovich about her accomplishments, and a separate 20-minute collection of engaging interviews with Brockovich, the real-life attorney portrayed by Albert Finney, as well as Finney, Roberts, Soderbergh and others.

(c) 2000, Scott Hettrick. Distributed by Los Angeles Times Syndicate.

Review: 'The Cider House Rules' -- both hard and sweet
January 3, 2000
Tobey Maguire smokes a cigar
September 16, 1999

Miramax: Cider House Rules

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