On the Basis of Sex (2018)

This film tells us the story of Ruth Bader Ginsberg's (Felicity Jones's) early years, from her entrance into Harvard law and Marty's (Armie Hammer's) battle with cancer to her struggling to find a firm who will hire a woman before finally settling to teach law at Rutgers before she finally gets her big break which is unfortunately handed to her by her husband. It is unfortunate that no one else realized her great talent.
One of Ruth's main classes is gender and law and how the law differentiates between men and women and the case Marty hands her is one where a bachelor hires an in-house nurse to help him care for his mother but as he isn't a woman, divorced man or widowed, he was deemed ineligible for the caretaker tax deduction so Ruth and Marty take on his case with the somewhat reluctant help of the ACLU, led by Justin Theroux, who isn't as liberal as he would lead you to believe.
Though it is now 1970, women can still be fired for merely getting married, which is beyond ridiculous. Ruth, though filled with knowledge, hasn't tried a case before anyone before and in her moot court, she does have struggles, which doesn't change when she appears before the appellate court, though she finds her ground, breaking down the laws which have been upheld for more than one hundred years. Most of the men, including many of her law professors, believe a woman's place is at home but she is breaking that stereotype, once and for all.
Though the plot is strong, along with the performances, the film also portrays a strong marriage, with two highly intelligent people, juggling demanding careers and the domestic life, including two children, Jane (Cailee Spaeny) is the challenging one. They survive Marty's near-fatal bout of cancer, during which Ruth attends his classes as well as her own, not to mention caring for him and baby Jane. When he graduates, at least he realizes that he didn't do anything, she did it all, which she did. Ruth basically has two law degrees, a fact which isn't lost on me.
All-in-all, the film doesn't have many missteps, though that sex scene in the beginning could have easily been cut in half, but the acting is great, I've never loved Armie Hammer more, the plot is tight, not to mention the realistic settings, costumes, scenery and music. Grade: B+