On What Basis

For a while now, it's been on my movie to-do list to watch On the Basis of Sex, the biopic about Ruth Bader Ginsburg. For obvious reasons, watching it bubbled up to the top of the list this past weekend.

On the Basis of Sex is not a full-life biopic, narrowing the focus to a period from 1956 (RBG's first year at law school) to 1972 (when she and her husband argued a key case before the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals). It does depict the sweeping and systemic gender discrimination she fought against, and then presents a classic "long odds" narrative of the fight to strike the first blow against it.

The movie took a while to draw me in, because at first it seems so devoted to touching on the biopic movie staples. The story feels very specifically manipulated to fit a very familiar mold, and anyone who's seen even a handful of these movies can sense the manipulation. (You don't even have to know about the life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg to feel the moves coming.)

Even though the movie never really stops following the underdog formula, though, at some point I turned the corner and simply enjoyed the familiar ride. Somewhere around the halfway point, the movie really does begin to communicate the skill and power of its subject. It makes a compelling character of Ginsburg's daughter Jane as well. And it begins knocking down the dominoes it has set up in very satisfying way.

The final act, the big oral argument day at the Tenth Circuit, is everything you want one of these movies to be: a defiant speak truth to power moment, an underdog rises to the challenge and triumphs moment, a good wins in the end moment. It makes you want to stand up and cheer. It's inspirational and aspirational. In short, for me, it more than made up for any shortcomings earlier on in the film.

Felicity Jones stars as Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and gives a marvelous performance. From the technical aspects like RBG's distinct way of speaking to the complicated emotional moments that combine more than one feeling, Jones is at her best here. And the cast around her is solid too. Young Cailee Spaeny is great as Jane Ginsburg, and Armie Hammer puts the "supporting" into Supporting Actor. Popping in and out of the movie are fun character turns from Justin Theroux, Kathy Bates, Sam Waterston, and Stephen Root.

All told, I've give the movie a B+. I admit, it's possible I might not have thought as highly of it if I'd watched it just one week earlier. But I really do think it delivers in the end. And in particular, it delivers just what I know I for one am looking for right now.