Butler's Cinema Scene

Julianne Moore, Ellen Page

“FREEHELD” My rating: B-

103 minutes | MPAA rating: PG-13

A great tale trumps — just barely — mediocre delivery in “Freeheld,” a fictional version of the same story told in the 2007 Oscar-winning documentary of the same name.

Laurel Hester (Julianne Moore) is a police detective in Ocean County, NJ. She’s a tough, creative and much-honored cop, admired by her peers and especially her womanizing (so we’re told) partner, Dane Wells (Michael Shannon).

Laurel is also a closeted lesbian, so worried that her career will stall if her sexual orientation becomes public that she has virtually no personal life.

Then she meets tomboyish Stacie Andree (Ellen Page).  Love blossoms, although the very out Stacie has a hard time dealing with Laurel’s secretive ways.

When Laurel is diagnosed with late stage cancer, she goes public with her sexuality by asking the Ocean County Board of Freeholders (basically the county commission, which runs the local police) to assign her pension benefits to her partner Stacie, who will at least be able to keep the house they have purchased and rennovated.

But all this takes place a decade ago, at a time when local pols weren’t about to set a precedent by giving a gay employee rights normally reserved for married heterosexuals.  So begins a long and painful legal and public relations process as Laurel becomes ever more frail.

Michael Shannon

The documentary “Freeheld” was a riveting and heart-rending 40 minutes of real-life drama.

This retelling — written by Ron Nyswaner (“Philadelphia,” cable’s “Ray Donovan”) and directed by Peter Sollett (“Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist”) — is cliche-riddled and plays too much like something created for the old “Lifetime” channel.

The good news is that Moore and Page are compelling in the lead roles.

And there’s a remarkably deep supporting cast that includes Josh Charles, Dennis Boutsikaris and William Sadler as members of the Board of Freeholders.

Flamboyantly entertaining but entirely at odds with the rest of the film is Steve Carrell as the tres gay leader of a group fighting for gender/sexual equality. Apparently it was determined that what this somber tale needed was some outrageous comic relief.

“Freeheld” never surprises us — it follows the tried-and-true playbook for this sort of uplifting/outraged social drama — but in the end it does move us. Knowing that it’s based on real people and all-too-real prejudice provides a power that not even cliches can negate.

| Robert W. Butler 

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