GamerTab That was an excellent one.

SunnyHello Nice effects though.

SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Robert J. Maxwell It's better than it has a right to be.Two women -- Moore and Page -- fall in love and move into a house in Ocean County in southern New Jersey. Moore is a detective on the police force and Page works as a mechanic. Well, southern New Jersey is not the New York metropolitan area nor a raffish suburb of Philadelphia. It's not exactly hick country either, not since the highways made it possible to commute to the cities, but it still retains some of its quaint charm. Ocean County includes the pine barrens, a sandy country of stunted pines, prickly pear cactus, and copper colored shallow creeks, a broad portion of leftover coastal plain. It's the only state home of the New Jersey pine snake (Putuophis m.melanoleucus), a tough specimen of which I was happy and proud to catch and release.Where was I? I do wish you'd stop interrupting my train of thought. Pretty soon I'll offer to show you where I store my specimens. Yes, so anyway Moore and Page have a happy household and eventually Moore's partner on the police force, Michael Shannon, comes around to accepting this unusual ménage. But then it is discovered that Moore has incurable lung cancer. Despite treatment she gets sicker and sicker and decides to leave her police pension to Page. Uh-oh. The couple aren't man and wife, just "domestic partners." Moore's employers at the police department are uncertain about the deal so the matter is referred to the Ocean County Board of Selectmen or Aldermen or Freeholders or whatever they are. They demur.The rest of the movie is taken up with Moore's search for what she calls equality, not special privilege, but the case is sensationalized by the media and all kinds of people with all kinds of motives show up at the Board meetings. Among the most impressive of these visitors is Steve Carrell as a hyperenergetic New York gay Jew who prances around leading chants and calling everyone "Sweetheart." Nothing in the movie comes as much of a surprise. There is anger and confusion. A few locals support the cause, the Selectmen are afraid it will cost them votes to hand the pension over to Page, Shannon is stalwart in his support, and sooner or later the anticipated happens. The direction by Peter Sollett is unobtrusive. Moore gives an excellent performance as usual. She sickens credibly. I groan with delight whenever Ellen Page speaks. There is no other such offhand voice, no matter what the subject. But, alas, she's not given much chance to exercise her acting chops. For most of the movie she trudges around wearing a face like the mask of tragedy, as if she'd just been told they stopped serving breakfast at eleven. It never changes. If this were fiction and her name could be made up, it would be Delores not Stacie. Michael Shannon is surprisingly effective. He's beetle-browed and hardly handsome but he brings an everyman quality to his roles precisely because he doesn't seem to be an actor. His underplaying added considerable power to his role as a schizophrenic in "Take Shelter."I said initially that it was better than it had a right to be. What I meant was that it wasn't sicklied over with the ghoulish cast of excessive piteousness. Think what could have been done with this adult flick if it had appeared as a drama on Lifetime Movie Network.

SnoopyStyle Laurel Hester (Julianne Moore) is a police investigator in Ocean County, New Jersey. She is a closeted gay to everyone at work including her longtime partner Dane Wells (Michael Shannon). She starts dating young mechanic Stacie Andree (Ellen Page). They sign up as domestic partners. When Laurel is diagnosed with cancer, she applies to have Stacie receive her pension only to be rejected by the town council for their lack of a marriage. Gay activist Steven Goldstein (Steve Carell) sees a golden opportunity to fight for gay marriage.This should be a compelling movie especially with these great actors. Everything seems to be there except for some imagination in its execution. The writing is formulaic. The movie could be interesting if it picks one character to tell the story. It essentially follows Moore in the first half but her character is incapacitated in the last part of the movie. The movie needs some imagination in its construction to make this film more original. On a minor note, the Jersey accent makes the romancing a little awkward. The ladies are good together. Dane has the most interesting journey. This could have been one of the year's best but it's not even close.

bkoganbing One of the things that has always annoyed me about people opposing gay rights laws is the absolute refusal of the opposition especially those religiously based to recognize romantic love. It's not recognized in the holy works of religion therefore it doesn't exist. Even in this film where we are talking about two people in love. Believe the evidence of your own eyes about Laurel Hester and Stacie Andree in the film Freeheld.I worked for NYS Crime Victims Board and in death I came in contact with a lot of ordinary LGBTQ people who in death had their lives magnified far more than what they did in their lives. Such is the case with Laurel Hester who was a detective with the Ocean County Police in New Jersey. I'm not sure she was closeted, but she certainly was discreet in her male dominated work place.Discretion went out the window when she meets Stacie Andree a much younger woman at a softball game. The two start living together and while it's not all roses, the commitment is truly there.And then cancer strikes and what to do about whatever estate Hester might leave. This story illustrates precisely the problem that LGBTQ people had before marriage settled the issue permanently. You could in some places get a domestic partnership certificate and have the relationship recorded. But it wasn't mandated that private industry and government recognize it.Thus was the issue of the film as the town of Freehold and its governing body would not extend survivor benefits to Ms. Andree. They were not married, but legally they could not get married. At least without a lot of agitation and organizing.Which is where Steve Carrell as Steven Goldstein comes in, leading the same sex marriage lobbying group. The issue as he says is so neatly encapsulated in the problem that Hester and Andree face.Two things I liked about Freeheld that make this a special film. One was the chemistry between Julianne Moore and Ellen Page as Laurel and Stacy. They made me believe the love was real.The second was the scenes among Laurel's police colleagues with her and among themselves. The differing reactions was a sampling of straight and male America, quite nicely documented.Freeheld is a great film showing the need for same sex marriage as few others have.

Davis P Wow. Just wow. This film truly did affect me in such an undeniable way. Freeheld is based on a true story that might have already heard of. This movie tells the incredible true story of Laurel Hester and Stacey Andree, two woman in a romantic relationship together. They are together for probably about a year before actually buying and renovating a house to live in. And they do fix it up quite beautifully and live in it for a good while, having a domestic partnership agreement. But when Laurel complains of a pulled muscle, Stacee gets a little worried and has her go to the doctor and have it checked out. When laurel gets her doctor report back, she is informed that she does in fact have stage 4 lung cancer. Laurel's one last simple wish is that her pension will go to Stacee, just like all her other heterosexual co-workers have theirs go to their opposite sex spouses. The freeholders of ocean county deny her request, mainly because it's a pretty conservative town, and it makes them feel uncomfortable. Let me just say that Julianne Moore is freaking amazing as laurel Hester, she really just embodies the role and really shines in it! Also Ellen page, who just came out as a lesbian herself about a year ago, is awesome as Stacee Andree, she really gave it her all! Also both of them have such amazing chemistry in the film, you can feel the undeniable love and affection they have for one another. When they kiss on screen, it's almost electric. The love portrayed in the film is just so beautiful and touching. Also, the script and dialogue is very well written and engaging. Steve carrel really did his role justice as well, he was awesome too. The rest of the cast really did a great job as well, they all really had obvious zeal and passion for this revolutionary project. I'm so glad that the filmmakers did this moving true story justice when they adapted it to the big screen. I 100% suggest Freeheld! 10/10. Go rent it today.