Ruth Bader Ginsburg has emerged as an unlikely cultural icon, and this movie is intended to depict the origins of her progressive appeal.  But it is also designed to contribute to her legacy, and this close alignment makes me a little uncomfortable.  Certainly it is not a documentary, but rather a tribute, so I shouldn’t be surprised, but I was hoping for a bit more neutrality regarding history.

Mimi Leder’s film casts young lawyer Ginsburg (Felicity Jones) as an underdog, a lone female voice in a male-dominated legal jungle where equal rights for women are nonexistent.  Eventually, as a law professor, she finds a case where Charles Moritz (Chris Mulkey) is denied a caregiver tax deduction and prosecuted over it; she realizes that if the decision is reversed then gender discrimination could be confronted once and for all.  With the help of an ACLU lawyer (Justin Theroux) Ginsburg takes the case and ultimately changes American legal history.

It’s a fine story, rooted in real life entanglements and machinations that take years to unravel, and it takes the time to depict Ginsburg’s private life with husband Martin (Armie Hammer) and daughter Jane (Cailee Spaeny).  Legal and emotional context is provided throughout, and pains are taken to make the legal case as accessible as possible.  Nevertheless, the film plays a lot like a TV-movie.  Everything is so studied and deliberate that it doesn’t always feel spontaneous and true.  Most of all, it feels “safe” — as if dramatic risks are to be avoided.

Bios are tricky, especially when the subject is still alive and kicking.  While this movie is certainly well-intended and handsomely produced, it also feels manipulative and preachy.  To be sure, I enjoyed it, and audiences at our theatre loved it.  It’s a movie ensured to be “on the right side of history,” yet it could have been so much greater than that.  ☆ ☆ ☆.  5 April 2019.