Arion Berger needs to check her class bias next time she reviews a film (“Hollywoodn’t, Shouldn’t, Couldn’t,” 3/24). The whole point of Julia Roberts’ skimpy wardrobe in Erin Brockovich is to contrast her working-class character with the conservatively attired professional class at PG&E and at the law firm. Berger laughs at the idea that Aaron Eckhart’s George may just actually like spending time with Erin’s children but belittles the fact that there are many family men who also ride Harleys.

The reviewer also missed the point when she sarcastically stated, “Only a real person like gutsy Erin can relate to the real people of Hinkley.” Erin is not looking at the people of Hinkley as a means to an end, but as ordinary people such as herself dealing with life’s hardships. “The cartoonishly uptight lady lawyer” ( who, incidentally, looks like a lot of people on K Street—both men and women) can’t fathom the concept of mounting medical bills, but Erin can, because for at least half the film she’s without health insurance.

This film is the most accessible of Steven Soderbergh’s career, but maybe if he had thrown in more bourgeois angst maybe it would have been accessible even to Berger. Berger noted her problems with “too much movie-star perkiness”—I would disagree. Julia Roberts conveyed brilliantly the problems of her character—a former beauty queen waking up to reality.

Dupont Circle