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If good intentions were enough to make a great movie, the drama "Freeheld" would be a masterpiece — rather than the overly precious collection of saintly heroes and cartoony villains drawn from this real-life story.
Laurel Hester (played by Julianne Moore) was a decorated police detective in Ocean County, N.J. She also is a lesbian, a fact she has hidden from everyone on the police force, including her partner, Det. Dane Wells (Michael Shannon).
The movie begins by showing Hester in both sides of her life — kicking butt on duty, but driving long distances to play volleyball at a women's club. It's after one such session that she meets Stacie Andree (Ellen Page), a shy but sweet auto mechanic. They go on a date and immediately hit it off. Within a year or so, Laurel and Stacie have registered as domestic partners, bought a house and started to create a life together. (This is around 2001, before gay couples could marry in most states, including New Jersey.)
In 2005, Laurel is diagnosed with lung cancer and told she has a year to live. She writes to the county's legislative body, the Board of Chosen Freeholders, requesting that her survivor's benefits — something all cops leave to their spouses when they die — go to Stacie. The board, either citing a technicality in the domestic-partnership law or for religious reasons, votes no.
Laurel, weakened by chemo treatments, files a civil-rights case that becomes a national news story. It also draws vocal gay-rights advocates — such as the head of Garden State Equality, Stephen Goldstein (played, almost as comic relief, by Steve Carell) — and divides Laurel's former colleagues in the squad room.
Screenwriter Ron Nyswaner almost acts as if the years since he wrote the 1993 AIDS drama "Philadelphia" never happened. Laurel and Stacie are written so nobly as to deprive them of human foibles, while the Freeholders are nearly all shown as spouters of narrow-minded talking points. (The exception is Josh Charles' character, the only board member shown, unconvincingly, wrestling with his conscience.) In the middle is Shannon's character, who fulfills the clichéd role of the story's sole enlightened heterosexual.
Director Peter Sollett ("Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist") is lucky to have two solid leads to bring some depth to the cardboard-cutout characters. Moore excels at the showy stuff, showing Laurel's physical decline to cancer and chemo, and she's nicely matched by Page's low-key turn as the quietly supportive Stacie.
"Freeheld" is based on Cynthia Wade's Oscar-winning 2007 short documentary of the same title. And while Moore and Page nearly make the re-enacted version worthwhile, it's a good idea to seek out Wade's movie, because it tells the story without condescension and in about an hour's less time.
Twitter: @moviecricket —
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'Freeheld'
A true story of a landmark gay-rights case is turned into a stereotype-heavy dramatic experience.
Where • Area theaters.
When • Opens Friday, Oct. 16.
Rating • PG-13 for some thematic elements, language and sexuality.
Running time • 103 minutes.