On the Basis of Sex (Felicity Jones, Armie Hammer, Justin Theroux, Sam Waterston) – The superb documentary RBG tells the life story of Ruth Bader Ginsburg beautifully. The “inspired by a true story” version, On the Basis of Sex, pales in comparison. If you can’t get enough of the Notorious RBG, you will definitely want to see this film. But if you expect to see anything new or to dig deep into the psyche of the revered Supreme Court Associate Justice, you will be disappointed.
Director Mimi Leder, whose credits skew heavily to TV, uses a heavy hand in introducing us to Ruth Bader Ginsburg (whose real first name is Joan and whose nickname is Kiki, pronounced “kicky”). The film starts on Ruth’s first day at Harvard Law School. Immediately, we the audience realize that we are not going to see the younger Ruth, her undergraduate days at Cornell, or her love affair with Marty.
Instead, Leder’s sledgehammer shows the almost military-style march of the hundreds of men into Harvard’s hallowed halls along with the nine women, including Ruth. It doesn’t take long for Ruth to distinguish herself despite being insulted by Dean Griswold (with whom she would later wage battle in the courts), ignored by professors, and attending classes for herself and for Marty when he gets testicular cancer.
Marty and Ruth are portrayed not only as the ideal couple but almost infallible people. This is especially true of Marty, who seems to have no flaws whatsoever. He dotes on her, their daughter, Jane, and is an extraordinarily affable and articulate second year law student. Ruth is brilliant, beautiful, prolific, indefatigable and awfully serious. Marty boosts her up when she’s feeling down, which seems to occur mostly when she is underestimated.
The plot follows Ruth and Marty from law school through their first major case together, a discrimination suit against the federal government for denying caregiver benefits to a single man who takes care of his ailing mother. As portrayed, it is Marty who identifies the case but Ruth who is the expert in sex discrimination. Because no law firm in New York would hire her despite her superb academic credentials (first in her class, law review at both Harvard and Columbia where she transferred when Marty took a job as a tax attorney in New York City), she gets a job as a professor at Rutgers Law School. She is convinced that this case will set new precedent and begin to unravel the scores of federal laws that discriminate against women. With the initial grudging support of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Ginsburgs take the case to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. That is the scope of the film – a few years in the life of Ruth and Marty. Disappointing for sure but not unprecedented in biopics. Leder simply runs out of time to tell us more. She almost begs us to see the documentary with the end titles.
To this point, I haven’t talked about the actors. Felicity Jones is just fine as RBG. Her contrived Brooklyn accent is inconsistent across the film, which is annoying but not disqualifying. Her diminutive stature, especially standing next to Armie Hammer as Marty, matches our observation about this icon. But this also plays to my pet peeve: American characters portrayed by Brits or Australians. Were there really no excellent American actresses in the 26-35 age group who could have played Ruth?
Hammer is just fine as Marty. Coming off his exceptional performance in Call Me by Your Name, he is likable and perfect in every way. The always exceptional Sam Waterston is perfectly hateful as Erwin Griswold. Maybe this guy was a one-dimensional jerk or maybe Leder and screenwriter Daniel Stiepleman (RBG’s real-life nephew) took the easy road in portraying him this way. Only Justin Theroux as ACLU Legal Director Mel Wulf stands out.
On the Basis of Sex could have been so much more. It could have been as good a feature film as RBG is a documentary. But instead, it is a letdown. Fans of RBG have to see it because it adds to her legacy. But you will leave wanting more.