★★★★☆

On the Basis of Sex is the story of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her hubby from meeting at Harvard through a cancer battle and the landmark case. One thing worthy of note about those early days is that she attended her husband’s classes and her own while he was battling cancer. No small feat. most would have flunked out carrying that load.

It was rather quaint seeing the portrayal of stereotypes from the 1950s. Falling down funny for the Dean’s supper when he asked the ladies to stand and state why they were attending Harvard Law. I’m going to butcher this quote, but it is just too good.

Well my husband’s a lawyer so I’m attending Harvard Law to better understand him.

What I really liked about this movie is they didn’t overplay the struggle. This was the major mistake The Theory of Everything made. I turned that movie off less than a half hour in I think. In fact you can read its review here. On the Basis of Sex took a much better approach. They spun some of the funny and now quaint gender slights of the 1950s. Probably the most pointed one was that doctors wouldn’t tell her anything about her husband “because women didn’t know anything.” Some time later they showed her getting rejected and rather than make us sit through the hundred other rejections in front of it just talked about them during the interview. That guy was also honest about the “why” he wouldn’t hire her. The other lawyers are married and have jealous wives.

I found the movie quite rewarding to watch. You won’t feel cheated. I don’t know if it is one I would watch again. It was an important movie and well done, it just didn’t have that Rewatchable Factor.

For more movie rental ideas please see list one and list two.