Drama In Disguise

The latest marketing assault from Hollywood features America's sweetheart Julia Roberts in her new movie, Erin Brockovich, which opens in theaters this weekend.

It's a drama masquerading as a comedy, reports CBS Early Show contributor Laurie Hibberd.

Although Universal Pictures has been flooding the media with ads for the new Roberts vehicle, few prospective audience members have any idea what the movie is about - and that is what moviemakers are counting on.

Erin Brockovich is the true story of a down-on-her-luck, twice-divorced mother of three who takes a job filing in a law office. She was hired out of sympathy after her lawyer came up empty with her personal injury suit.

But in the end, she stumbles onto a water poisoning cover-up and champions one of the biggest environmental lawsuits ever, involving some 600 plaintiffs.

It's a serious story with a few funny moments, but you'd never know it from the marketing campaign, which features the funniest lines of the movie and myriad shots of a provocatively dressed Roberts flaunting cleavage.

The reason for the misleading commercials, Hibberd reports, is the way Universal Pictures perceives how audiences view Roberts. Roberts in comedies calls up images of Pretty Woman, My Best Friend's Wedding and Notting Hill, all light-hearted romps that were box-office smashes.

Roberts in a drama brings to mind clinkers like Mary Reilly, Pelican Brief and is the reason for all the light marketing.

Instead of selling the movie for what it is - a well-reviewed, multi-layered drama with Oscar potential - they're selling Julia Roberts with her big smile, beautiful hair and décolletage.

The movie, the first for which Roberts is being paid $20 million, was directed by Steven Soderburgh who directed sex, lies and videotapes and Out of Sight. It was produced by Jersey Films, Danny DeVito's production company.

Its only competition this weekend is the supernatural thriller Final Destination, about a group of high school students embarking on a trip to Europe. One has a premonition that the plane is going to crash and persuades a group to skip the flight. The plane crashes and the surviving students begin to die mysteriously - one by one.The R-rated New Line movie is directed by James Wong and stars Devon Sawa, Amanda Detmer, Chard Donella and Brendan Fehr.

It is aimed at the teen market and is written by some of the same people who created the most memorable episodes of The X-Files.

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