Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Excellent, a Must See

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Not long ago I saw 'Carol', thankfully it is not another that and better than that. It was based on the documentary short of the same name about a real life same sex couple who fought for the equal rights and the pension benefits, while one of them was treated for cancer. It is a great drama about fighting for justice than the romance as it states, but that part as well very impressive.Ellen Page and Julianne Moore, both were awesome, except Moore was a bit old. By seeing them I felt being a lesbian is sweetest than straight, hetero and even gay. The first half was all about the relationship, but very decently narrated romance tale. And in the next half once Steve Carell enters the scene, the film diverted to another side of the story. All the actors were very good, including Michael Shannon.Obviously the story was predictable and that is expected often in a biography. Because if they want to alter it, then they should pen a very cleverest script the audience never saw one like that before. I think telling a true story as it is is the point and that's what this filmmaker did. So don't complain about the storyline, just consider whether it is inspiring or worth a watch for other reasons.For me it was almost a sentimental piece, but the second half story compromised and then I realised what this film was trying to say. Underrated film of the year for sure. Anytime I suggest it, especially for the grown ups and with a neutral mindset, because it is not all about the same sex romance, but the battle for equality in society.8/10

Like the recent film Carol, Freeheld portrays the romance between two women who are very different with each other in age and ideology, but with sincere emotions transcending any difference. And, also like Carol, Freeheld employs the romance as the framework of wider subjects, revealing the injustices committed against people who don't fit into the supposed standard of "normality" approved by society. But unlike Carol, Freeheld portrays true events which happened in this century, proving that there's still a long road to finish. The romance between the main characters of Freeheld feels honest and absolutely credible thanks to the precise screenplay and the wonderful performances from Julianne Moore and Ellen Page. Freeheld is a very well structured film, with a first half which perfectly establishes the situation, and a second one which reaches a high narrative eloquence while strengthening the drama without manipulating the audience. Besides of Moore and Page, the performances from Steve Carell and Michael Shannon are also worthy of applause, and their characters efficiently represent the complex political and social angles from the touching story. In conclusion, Freeheld is a brilliant film which deserves a very enthusiastic recommendation. And even though it didn't receive as much acclamation as Carol or Philadelphia, I personally found it much more powerful and memorable.

Greetings from Lithuania."Freeheld" (2015) is a movie based on a very real story. I won't go into plot details, but this is kinda inspirational story. The lead performance by Julianne Moore is great - you won't expect anything less from this caliber Oscar winner, and she delivers it. Movie itself isn't bad by any means, at running time 1 h 40 min it wasn't boring and i watched it in one sit, and that is not a bad sign. But movie-making wasn't original or exciting and etc. This is a very averagely told story, with any emotional deep (script lacks of it) or anything else for what i could remember this movie for longer then one day after i finished it.Overall, "Freeheld" is very watchable movie with no lasting impression. There are many well known faces in this movie, but they don't have much to do, script is very flat and predictable, directing is very simple. This is OK movie for one evening.

FREEHELD has its noble cause based on a harrowing but also inspiring true event, the fight for equality of a cancer-ridden police officer Laurel Hester (Moore) and her partner Stacie Andree (Page), Laurel intends to leave her pension to Stacie after her death, but the main barrier is Board of Chosen Freeholders of Ocean County, New Jersey, where those freeholders reject to grant the transferring benefit to one's domestic partner.The story has already been made into an Oscar-winning documentary short with the same name by Cynthia Wade in 2007, so this project shapes up to be a tailor-made Oscar bait, script is written by Ron Nyswaner, who penned another LGBT tearjerker PHILADELPHIA in 1993 and is nominated for an Oscar; director Peter Sollett's previous work NICK AND NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST (2008) is a charming indie hit, and Linda Perry contributes the theme song HANDS OF LOVE with Miley Cyrus as the performer. As for our two leading ladies, FREEHELD marks a high-profile follow-up after Moore's overdue Oscar victory in STILL ALICE (2014) and a career-boost to her 27-year younger co-star Ellen Page, who gallantly came out in 2014 and has been involved with the film for six years, plus with Shannon and Carrell on board, it has all the potential to be another THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT (2010), but it gets a cold shoulder as soon as it debuts in Toronto last year, completely goes off the radar in the awards season afterwards.Fairly speaking, the film is a dependable drama, faithfully spoon-feeds the story from Laurel and Stacie's encounter, the usual trajectory of their romance, Laurel's closeted defence against the glass-ceiling in the police department, to the tragic part where a terminal cancer cast its shadow to their life, and the subsequent battle to buck the trend with the help of Laurel's working-partner Dane Wells (Shannon), Steven Goldstein (Carell), a radical gay-marriage advocate and the founder of Garden State Equality and a conscientious freeholder Bryan Kelder (Charles). Overall Sollett plays safe to the material itself but Nyswaner's script fails to lift the source above its banal biographical mechanism, despite there is a sterling cast at hand. Moore staunchly challenges a more butch attitude in Laurel, whose controlling nature is very much at odds with the submissive and meek Jules in THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, but the enormous age difference and Page's juvenile tomboy guise (has she even grown from JUNO 2007?) are not in favour of registering ample chemistry between them although for Page, her performance is less calculated and reflects her true nature. Shannon has no slack in playing a cardboard virtuous person, but Carell does chew up the scenery in his comic relief turn.Laurel and Stacie's fight bears out a significant moment in human history, although marriage equality has already been legalised for USA citizens prior to the film's release date, bigotry and prejudice against LGBT people (as portrayed in the picture) is still rampant, notably in these backward areas and among those narrow-minded, not to mention the bigger picture in a global scale, there is still a long long way to fight, that why this sub-genre is still essential in our contemporary cinematic domain. So this movie underachieves to be a top-tier contender, but we do need films like this, heralded by Hollywood big names to leaven the mainstream market, wherever we are, diversity matters!