Filmdom is all abuzz over Julia Roberts’ performance in Erin Brockovich. Despite the film’s early release in the year, some have already begun talk of an Academy Award nomination. Though the erstwhile “Pretty Woman” may have just claim to what would be her first Oscar notice (and we’ll talk more about that in a few minutes), arguably more interesting is the development of director Steven Soderbergh into an A-list talent among American directors.

Soderbergh burst onto the cinema scene in 1989 with sex, lies and videotape, the film most credit as putting independent movies on the map for the 1990s. But what is more impressive about the director is the string of films he has put together to end one decade and ring in the new. Out of Sight, considered by some critics to be the best film of 1998, proved George Clooney to be a viable big screen star, showed Jennifer Lopez to be an emerging leading lady, and illustrated that sharp writing need not be subordinate to the star performers in a film. Lamentably, Out of Sight didn’t reel in the audience it deserved, and Soderbergh’s work went largely unnoticed.

Even more inconspicuous was his next film, The Limey, which played daring games with narrative structure and character and even ventured to use clips from another movie as one character’s flashbacks. Terrance Stamp shone in the lead role, but again the film was clearly driven by a talented filmmaker’s complete vision, rather than simply catering to the whims of his leading stars.

That’s an important point for understanding how successful Erin Brockovich ultimately is. Based on a true story, the film follows a former Midwest beauty queen (Roberts) who dared to look beyond the surface at her menial office job while working for an LA attorney (Albert Finney) and uncovers a potentially incriminating matter involving Pacific Gas & Electric. While researching a seemingly routine real estate case, Brockovich discovers that residents living near a PG&E industrial plant may have serious medial maladies attributed to a toxic water supply contaminated by the company’s lax safety protocols.

The essential storyline is similar to the recent film A Civil Action (which proves to be inferior to this engaging production), but a key difference is the central role of Brockovich, a twice-divorced mother of three kids who is barely eking out a living going from job to job. Garbed in such flashy-trashy attire as micro-mini skirts, four-inch heels and an assortment of Wonderbras, Brockovich is not only stunningly frank in displaying her feminine wiles, but her often coarse language and brutally honest manner of speech get her in even more trouble, let alone make it difficult for others to look past the gaudy package to see the hard working person beneath it.

Roberts, working on a professional roll that include the string of hits My Best Friend’s Wedding, Notting Hill and The Runaway Bride, makes a calculated move here by teaming up with Soderbergh. Early in the film, her performance seems gimmicky, based solely on Brockovich’s showy appearance, but Roberts and Soderbergh prove canny because they put audience members in a similar role as the judgmental characters Brockovich must overcome. As the movie progresses, Roberts’ performance develops a depth we hadn’t quite seen initially, particularly as we see her relate to the folks, downtrodden and devastated by health problems, of this small community. The strength of her portrayal is not in the eccentricities of the character but in her ordinariness, her success in conveying Brockovich as a real person, with real pains, struggles and joys.

Erin Brockovich is rated R for salty language. It evolves into a crowd-pleasing film that should finally net Soderbergh the hit film he deserves. As for Roberts, she has done her part to earn an Oscar nomination, but we’ll see if the Academy remembers her eight months down the road. Until then, moviegoers can appreciate her fine performances and also note the steady supporting work of Finney as her cranky boss and an appealing Aaron Eckhart as Brockovich’s biker babysitter boyfriend.