Synopsis
Young lawyer Ruth Bader Ginsburg teams with her husband Marty to bring a groundbreaking case before the U.S. Court of Appeals and overturn a century of sex discrimination.
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Cast
- Felicity JonesRuth Bader Ginsburg
- Armie HammerMartin D. Ginsburg
- Justin TherouxMel Wulf
- Sam WaterstonErwin Griswold
- Kathy BatesDorothy Kenyon
- Cailee SpaenyJane C. Ginsburg
- Callum ShonikerJames Steven Ginsburg
- Jack ReynorJames H. Bozarth
- Stephen RootProfessor Brown
- Ronald GuttmanProfessor Gerald Gunther
- 88
Movie Nation
But Jones, luminous in support in such dramas as “The Theory of Everything,” carries this picture, delivers thrilling arguments thrillingly and puts a warm, human face on a legal figure who has become liberalism’s Obi Wan Kenobi, “our only hope.” - 80
TheWrap
It’s Jones who really shines. She effortlessly embodies Ruth Bader Ginsburg with such aplomb that when she locks her steely eyes with the camera, you can feel it in your bones that this woman is about to change the world. - 75
Entertainment Weekly
A suitably inspiring biopic despite its narrative unevenness and occasional reliance on schmaltz, seeks to show audiences the origin story of a cultural icon. - 70
Variety
An RBG biopic shouldn’t be about sizzle and showpersonship, but hard work and determination in the face of rampant, seemingly unremitting sexism, and in that respect, Leder’s film gets its priorities right. - 70
Screen Daily
The storytelling in Sex is ho-hum, but the sincerity of the undertaking — and the issues at the film’s centre — make it hard to resist, no matter what objections might be raised. - 60
The Guardian
On the Basis of Sex is a solid, often impassioned film, but too often its worst instincts take over, and cliches stack up faster than legal documents. - 60
Time
This well-intentioned movie is a somewhat flawed one: its pace is a little slack, and sometimes it feels too predictably prepackaged. But Jones and Hammer keep the picture moving even through its shakier phases. - 50
IndieWire
On the Basis of Sex plays like a sunny fantasy from a more optimistic age.