ERIN BROCKOVICH

GENRE:  Biographical/ Drama
MADE:  2000
CAST:  Julia Roberts, Albert Finney, David Brisbin
DIRECTOR:  Steven Soderbergh
WRITER:  Susannah Grant

PLOT:  Based on the true story of a single mother in a small town working as a legal assistant who was the driving force of bringing a large California power company to court regarding the pollution of the city's water supply, which as a result lead to many cases of cancer.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Philadelphia, A Few Good Men, Disclosure

SCORE:

FLATLINERS

GENRE:  Drama/ Horror/ Sci-Fi
MADE:  1990
CAST:  Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, Julia Roberts, Oliver Platt, William Baldwin
DIRECTOR:  Joel Schumacher
WRITER:  Peter Filardi

PLOT:  A group of medical students experiment with death to find that as a result they have muddled the lines between life and death.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Primer, The Number 23, Mirrors

SCORE:

HOOK

GENRE:  Adventure/ Family/ Fantasy
MADE:  1991
CAST:  Dustin Hoffman, Robin Williams, Julia Roberts
DIRECTOR:  Steven Spielberg
WRITER:  J.M. Barrie, James V. Hart, Nick Castle, Malia Scotch Marmo

PLOT:  Peter Pan grew up and forgot about Neverland when he followed Wendy home.  His past will come back to him however, when Hook kidnaps Peter's kids and the only way to get them back is if Peter can remember.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  The Chronicles Of Narnia:  The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe, Everafter, The Princess Bride

SCORE:

AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS

GENRE:  Comedy/ Romance
MADE:  2001
CAST:  Julia Roberts, John Cusack, Billy Crystal, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Hank Azaria
DIRECTOR:  Joe Roth
WRITER:  Billy Crystal, Peter Tolan

PLOT:  Celebrity sweethearts Kiki and Eddie had a messy split leaving Lee, a movie publicist, to make everything right for the promo of their up and coming film that could quite possibly put both of them at the top again.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Notting Hill, When Harry Met Sally, Forgetting Sarah Marshall

SCORE:

NOTTING HILL

GENRE:  Romance/ Comedy
MADE:  1999
CAST:  Hugh Grant, Julia Roberts, Richard McCabe
DIRECTOR:  Roger Michell
WRITER:  Richard Curtis

PLOT:  When Anna Scott a beautiful and famous movie star from Hollywood enters a quaint travel book shop in the small town of Notting Hill things change for bookshop owner, William Thacker and Anna.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  America's Sweethearts, You've Got Mail, Love Actually

SCORE:

MONA LISA SMILE

GENRE:  Drama/ Romance
MADE:  2003
CAST:  Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stile, Maggie Gyllenhaal
DIRECTOR:  Mike Newell
WRITER:  Lawrence Konner, Mark Rosenthal

PLOT:  Set in the 50's, a liberal and independent female professor at Wellesley's all girl school teaches her students to think differently.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Dead Poet's Society, Good Will Hunting, An Education

SCORE:

EAT PRAY LOVE

GENRE:  Drama
MADE:  2010
CAST:  Julia Roberts,  James Franco, Javier Bardem, Richard Jenkins
DIRECTOR:  Ryan Murphy
WRITER:  Ryan Murphy, Jennifer Salt

PLOT:  After a divorce and a realization that she needs to change her life, Elizabeth goes on a 1-year trip to Italy, India and Bali in search of herself.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  The Beaver, Larry Crowne, Everything Is Illuminated

SCORE:

NOTE:  I was really excited to watch this film but was terribly let down in the end.  My conclusion is that  you most likely will not like the film unless you are a middle-aged woman and/or going through a mid-life crisis, so unless you are one or both of these thing, skip it.