*** outta *****

3 outta 5

On the Basis of Sex is a precisely calculated awards season bait prestige picture. It is an incredibly earnest experience with quite a lot of speeches that are pitched at a Very Important Movie level. Still, despite being transparent awards bait, it does work. This is a lot to do with the lead performance as the actress plays the part very well even if the movie sort of just makes her do mostly the same thing again and again but she is great at it.

In the 1950s, Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Felicity Jones from Rogue One) is one of the few female students studying at Harvard Law, along with being a mother to a newborn, and also dealing with the cancer diagnosis that has befallen her husband, Martin (Armie Hammer). Years later, Ginsburg is a professor with an angsty teenage daughter, Jane (Cailee Spaeny). One day she finds out about a case where a single man was denied caretaker compensation due to his gender so Ginsburg decides to appeal the decision. Even though he is a man it proves that there are sex discrimination laws on the books so striking down this law could unleash change across the country.

The movie is at its best in the first hour where it tracks Ginsburg from being a student and a mother, also helping her husband through a serious sickness, and trying to find a job. One of the movie’s best scenes is when Ginsburg and her fellow female students attend a dinner by the Harvard Law dean who condescendingly asks them why they took a spot from a man and Ginsburg’s rebuttal is awesome. The last half of the movie is when Ginsburg appeals a landmark case and this is where most of the speeches happen repeatedly which dilutes their impact. Also this section has a bit too much legal speak which doesn’t exactly make for the most compelling drama.

As the title card at the top On the Basis of Sex says, this is “Inspired by true events”. Whatever happened to “Based on a true story”? Another move of prestige Oscar bait historical pictures is to have the real life person show up at the end in either stock footage or a cameo while information cards about what happened afterwards breeze by. This movie also has way too many information cards at the end, there’s even an info card about what Ruth’s son grew up to do which is odd since in the movie he’s a toddler who has about 3 lines. The real person showing up at the end of the movie trick is employed here too, which is generally a groaner.  However, the usage of the real Ruth Bader Ginsburg here is actually quite dramatic. It is a nicely metaphorical moment which is excellently directed by Mimi Leder where Jones’ younger Ginsburg is seen marching towards the Supreme Court and then the camera rolls around a pillar to reveal the older Ginsburg. It probably works because it’s a time jump to the older real person as opposed showing the actor at same age compared to the real person like the weird Tom Hanks Sully vs. Real Sully bit in that movie.

Jones, at the centre of almost every scene, carries it excellently and her Brooklyn vocal accent is pretty spot on. What Jones is very good at is showing earnest emotions hiding underneath a stern exterior. Ginsburg gets to make a stirring speech pretty much every five minutes but Jones nails them. The movie definitely has some very hateable antagonists. Sam Waterson plays the crusty old Harvard Dean who is continually patronizing towards Ginsburg. Later he is literally plotting against Ginsburg in a dark, smoky room like something out of a conspiracy thriller as Stephen Root hatefully plays one of his snooty cronies. Justin Theroux plays a civil rights legislator helping Ginsburg, however, he makes a lot of arguments against her so sometimes it seems like he’s one of the bad guys. Very sympathetic is Hammer as the husband who encourages her to keep going. In one great scene in the appeals court both Ginsburgs are making an argument however the husband goes first which leads to a heartbreaking bit where he tries to defer to his wife but the male judges push for him to lead.

As the teenage daughter, Spaeny snaps a lot and one solid bit has her ripping into some catcalling construction workers which inspires her mother. Also, the fact that there are freakin’ catcalling construction workers in the movie is very much in standard Hollywood formula.  Kathy Bates shows up and generally acts terse which is what Bates sort of mostly does nowadays in all her roles. Unfortunately, her part here is small and ultimately inconsequential. It’s almost as if she’s entirely in the movie because Bates is so often nominated for awards they gave her a few scenes here where she rails against the injustice of patriarchy just so she could potentially score a Best Supporting Actress Nomination.

On the Basis of Sex is a pretty standard awards season biopic that doesn’t do anything different with the genre, unlike the excellent Vice that is almost an insane biopic parody. Still, Basis hits dramatic moments very well and even if it gets repetitive and is probably too long it does so with conviction.