Freeheld
Directed by: Peter Sollett
Written by: Ron Nyswaner - Based on the documentary short film "Freeheld" by Cynthia Wade
Starring: Julianne Moore, Ellen Page, Michael Shannon, Steve Carell, Josh Charles, Luke Grimes, Dennis Boutsikaris, Tom McGowan, William Sadler
Biography/Drama/Romance - 103 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 5 Oct 2015
Written by: Ron Nyswaner - Based on the documentary short film "Freeheld" by Cynthia Wade
Starring: Julianne Moore, Ellen Page, Michael Shannon, Steve Carell, Josh Charles, Luke Grimes, Dennis Boutsikaris, Tom McGowan, William Sadler
Biography/Drama/Romance - 103 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 5 Oct 2015
Prior to Freeheld, I had no idea New Jersey’s elected county officials were called freeholders. I know many folks in New Jersey live in townships, but the freeholder concept is one of those regional quirks I never came across. If not for the stubbornness and backward-looking Ocean County freeholders in 2005, I would remain oblivious to the term. These five particular elected officials ignited a firestorm of controversy when they callously denied a veteran police officer’s pension to her same sex partner – sanctity of marriage and all. Unfortunately, Freeheld has all the smoothness and pacing of a cobble-stoned street and feels like it is sneaking into theaters direct from its weekend afternoon slot on basic cable.
Opposites attract. Romeo and Juliet couldn’t help it, Tristan and Isolde fell into it, and Paula Abdul and that cartoon cat sang about it in the late ‘80s. Ocean County Detective Lauren Hester (Julianne Moore, 2015’s Seventh Son) is very good at what she does. Director Peter Sollett (Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist) shows her uncovering a major drug stash on the boardwalk and burning the midnight oil hot on the trail of a local murder. Detective Hester is also very adept at hiding her sexuality. She expertly plays one of the guys downtown at the station house, but she knows all too well that if they learn she is a lesbian, her advancement in the police force is over.
Opposites attract. Romeo and Juliet couldn’t help it, Tristan and Isolde fell into it, and Paula Abdul and that cartoon cat sang about it in the late ‘80s. Ocean County Detective Lauren Hester (Julianne Moore, 2015’s Seventh Son) is very good at what she does. Director Peter Sollett (Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist) shows her uncovering a major drug stash on the boardwalk and burning the midnight oil hot on the trail of a local murder. Detective Hester is also very adept at hiding her sexuality. She expertly plays one of the guys downtown at the station house, but she knows all too well that if they learn she is a lesbian, her advancement in the police force is over.
Smart and careful as a Detective would be, Hester looks for dates over an hour away in Pennsylvania where she meets Stacie Andree (Ellen Page, 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past). Stacie is very much Hester’s junior in age but in many ways ahead of her in being comfortable in her own skin. Stacie is an auto mechanic and out of the closet. Lauren Hester could not be any more in the closet. Their first few encounters are choppy and volatile as Stacie takes offense at playing along as a friend or various other white lies to shield the fact the two women are dating.
Hester is scared to death and Moore is able to show it. She accidentally runs into a fellow cop in a gay bar and bolts and she quickly pulls her weapon on a few thugs who threaten Stacie and herself during their first kiss. While this establishes Hester’s paranoia and her itchy trigger finger, it also destroys the momentum. The chemistry and mood between Hester and Stacie never gets the chance to take off because there is always a gun being pulled, or a phone call to answer, or an unexpected visit.
2005 wasn’t that long ago, but concerning LGBT rights, it was ages ago. Hester and Stacie legally form a domestic partnership, but equal rights to marry are still a decade in the future. When Hester is unexpectedly diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer, the fine lines between marriage and domestic partnerships take center stage. Hester wants to leave her pension to Stacie, as any married couple would do, but the county freeholders citing the sanctity of marriage and being in a heavily Republican district based on family values turn her away – with all do sympathy of course. This is the catalyst for Freeheld’s activism section.
Enter Steve Carell (2014’s Foxcatcher) as New Jersey’s most vocal gay rights equality activist. Carell may be 100% accurate in his portrayal of a real person, Steven Goldstein, but it does not fit in with the story Sollett attempts to tell. Wearing an enormous yarmulke, sporting gaudy ties to throw off his targets, and speaking in the most over-the-top lispy and stereotypical gay voice borders on caricature. Juxtaposed with Hester’s Detective partner, Dane Wells (Michael Shannon, 2013’s Man of Steel), these two make the odd couple look and act like identical twins. Wells is true blue, a heterosexual atheist he likes to say. Wells is also the only cop to come to Hester’s aide when she is outed and ostracized by not only the freeholders, but her fellow badge holders, and entire sections of the community.
Based on an Oscar-winning 2007 documentary short film showing the fight between Detective Hester and the Ocean County freeholders, events unfolding in American culture also begin to overshadow and bring closure to Freeheld at this time of its release. The Supreme Court legalized gay marriage in July 2015 as Freeheld wrapped up production, a fitting salute to Detective Hester and Stacie. It’s just a shame the film does not mirror these successes.
Julianne Moore is effective as she always is and combines elements of some of her recent characters. She gets sick just as she did in last year’s Oscar-winning performance in Still Alice and adds a dash of her lesbian character from The Kids Are All Right. Screenwriter Ron Nyswaner, who wrote 1993’s brilliant Philadelphia, calling nationwide attention to the discrimination of HIV positive folks for the first time, does not match his previous effort. Freeheld whiffs on chemistry, character development, and atmosphere. It gets the in the news subjects of human and equal rights just fine, but everything else is forgettable as Freeheld descends into the category of ‘issue’ films and will be all but forgotten soon enough.
Julianne Moore is effective as she always is and combines elements of some of her recent characters. She gets sick just as she did in last year’s Oscar-winning performance in Still Alice and adds a dash of her lesbian character from The Kids Are All Right. Screenwriter Ron Nyswaner, who wrote 1993’s brilliant Philadelphia, calling nationwide attention to the discrimination of HIV positive folks for the first time, does not match his previous effort. Freeheld whiffs on chemistry, character development, and atmosphere. It gets the in the news subjects of human and equal rights just fine, but everything else is forgettable as Freeheld descends into the category of ‘issue’ films and will be all but forgotten soon enough.
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