On the Basis of Sex
Universal Pictures | Release Date: December 25, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
59
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 40 Critic Reviews
Positive:
21
Mixed:
18
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleDec 22, 2018
A serious movie that slowly earns its emotion and enlists our involvement. Even before the finish, it’s goosebumps all around. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comNell MinowDec 20, 2018
Stiepleman’s affection for his aunt and license as an insider are palpable as he gently, perhaps too gently, teases her seriousness of purpose, her discipline, and her legendarily awful cooking. Read full review
88
Movie NationRoger MooreNov 30, 2018
But Jones, luminous in support in such dramas as “The Theory of Everything,” carries this picture, delivers thrilling arguments thrillingly and puts a warm, human face on a legal figure who has become liberalism’s Obi Wan Kenobi, “our only hope.” Read full review
83
Original-CinKim HughesJan 3, 2019
Let’s just say the film — scripted by Bader’s nephew Daniel Stiepelman with the Justice’s blessing — successfully splits the difference between capturing Ginsburg as a contemporary folk hero and as a fiercely ambitious intellectual competing for footing in an era when mixing a killer martini was the very height of wifely prestige. No one will mistake it for a documentary. Read full review
80
Time OutTomris LafflyDec 21, 2018
Well-paced and directed with gusto, On the Basis of Sex finds an accessible, near-perfect tone, balancing serious courtroom drama and frequent legal jargon with tastefully Hollywood-ized emotional embellishments. Read full review
80
TheWrapYolanda MachadoNov 9, 2018
It’s Jones who really shines. She effortlessly embodies Ruth Bader Ginsburg with such aplomb that when she locks her steely eyes with the camera, you can feel it in your bones that this woman is about to change the world. Read full review
75
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldJan 4, 2019
While the structure occasionally feels a bit awkward, On the Basis of Sex has the kind of crowd-pleasing story that skims over any minor shortcomings; by its end, you’re ready to cheer. Read full review
75
The Associated PressMark KennedyDec 26, 2018
Jones is truly marvelous in the role, showing Ginsburg’s burning desire to change societal unfairness and also, more intimately, coming to terms with her own daughter’s rebelliousness. Read full review
75
ObserverRex ReedDec 24, 2018
Some subjects grow weightier and more substantial with time, and this one has never been more relevant. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliDec 19, 2018
Abetted by a strong lead performance from actress Felicity Jones, the film stands as a monument to gender equality at a time when that subject has become a hot-button issue due to the upheaval associated with the “#metoo” movement. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubCaroline SiedeDec 19, 2018
It’s an impressive journey unimpressively retold, relying on overly familiar biopic tropes about the difficulty of being a woman in the man’s world of the 1950s. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyMaureen Lee LenkerDec 18, 2018
A suitably inspiring biopic despite its narrative unevenness and occasional reliance on schmaltz, seeks to show audiences the origin story of a cultural icon. Read full review
70
VoxAlissa WilkinsonDec 26, 2018
There’s nothing flashy or innovative about On the Basis of Sex. It’s the very definition of a workmanlike film. But it’s a satisfying watch nonetheless, and a smart one too — just like its subject. Read full review
70
Rolling StonePeter TraversDec 24, 2018
Call it RBG: The Early Years. Read full review
70
Screen DailyTim GriersonNov 9, 2018
The storytelling in Sex is ho-hum, but the sincerity of the undertaking — and the issues at the film’s centre — make it hard to resist, no matter what objections might be raised. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeNov 9, 2018
An RBG biopic shouldn’t be about sizzle and showpersonship, but hard work and determination in the face of rampant, seemingly unremitting sexism, and in that respect, Leder’s film gets its priorities right. Read full review
67
The PlaylistKimber MyersJan 3, 2019
On the Basis of Sex is a well-enough-made movie, fully constructed in the mold of hundreds of biopics that came before; it’s emotionally satisfying but has few surprises. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleDanielle WhiteJan 3, 2019
Jones makes a fine Ginsburg – especially in the mouth, lips pursed expectantly – but something in Hammer’s resigned manner paints a Marty that is more ineffectual than stoic, and the chemistry between them is pretty middle-of-the-road. Read full review
65
IGNRosie KnightDec 26, 2018
Despite the movie showcasing her brilliance and tenacity, at times it's sanitized and schmaltzy, which takes away from the overall impact of the story. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshDec 24, 2018
It's reflective of the Ginsburgs' real-life egalitarian marriage, almost never seen in Hollywood films. But the role is so much more than just the typical gender-swapped "spouse on phone" roles most often seen, and Hammer is a delight as the sunny Marty. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrDec 20, 2018
Watchable, illuminating, and ultimately unmemorable — inspiring without being inspired. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawFeb 21, 2019
Subtlety isn’t this movie’s strong suit and it’s often needlessly chary about drawing the parallel between sexism and racism. But it’s got a worthwhile story to tell. Read full review
60
EmpireHelen O'HaraFeb 20, 2019
It’s not a hugely innovative biopic, covering just a short period of Bader Ginsburg’s extraordinary career, but this is still a vastly inspiring account of the fight for equality. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicGarrett MitchellDec 26, 2018
It has a serviceable, conventional approach that summarizes the extraordinary achievements of a remarkable woman but offers little more than predictable and inspirational Pinterest-quote fare that would have been better suited for an HBO TV movie. Read full review
60
The New York TimesA.O. ScottDec 25, 2018
On the Basis of Sex does a brisk, coherent job of articulating what Ginsburg accomplished and why it mattered, dramatizing both her personal stake in feminist legal activism and the intellectual discipline with which she approached it. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinDec 23, 2018
The defense concedes that the Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic On the Basis of Sex hits its marks with the subtlety of a legal brief. But that’s not fatal. Read full review
60
TimeStephanie ZacharekDec 6, 2018
This well-intentioned movie is a somewhat flawed one: its pace is a little slack, and sometimes it feels too predictably prepackaged. But Jones and Hammer keep the picture moving even through its shakier phases. Read full review
60
The GuardianBenjamin LeeNov 9, 2018
On the Basis of Sex is a solid, often impassioned film, but too often its worst instincts take over, and cliches stack up faster than legal documents. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJan 10, 2019
The casting of Jones as Ginsburg might have seemed like a good idea, but, as fine an actress as she is, she can’t quite manage to bring the future Supreme Court justice to life, perhaps because it’s tough to animate cardboard. She’s stiff and humorless. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperDec 27, 2018
On the Basis of Sex is almost always solid. But “solid” is about as high as it goes. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangDec 23, 2018
It would be silly to expect this movie to achieve the cinematic equivalent of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s brilliance, but you can’t help wishing it had more to offer than righteous speeches and stirring glances, that it put a few more ideas in your head to go with that lump in your throat. Read full review
50
Washington PostMark JenkinsDec 21, 2018
While it’s not exactly a sequel to “RBG,” the hit documentary from earlier this year, the film does seem designed primarily for viewers who just can’t get enough Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Viewed through that lens, On the Basis of Sex sort of works. As filmmaking, it’s clunky, but as fan service, it’s more effective. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzDec 21, 2018
The film’s middling but good intentions might be enough for the work to skate by unnoticed – but then Leder constructs an unforgivably sentimental finale that builds to a cameo from Bader Ginsburg herself. At that point, we must object. Read full review
50
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiDec 19, 2018
Here, Ginsburg is just an idea, a symbol — a meme. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineDerek SmithDec 4, 2018
On the Basis of Sex is too often busy revering Ruth Bader Ginsburg for her confidence and brilliance to bother with presenting her as a living, breathing human being. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyNov 9, 2018
The dramatic approach here is clear, efficient and entirely on-the-nose, with little time for anything that might distract from the hagiographic effort in play. Its sole purpose is to ennoble and proclaim a hero, which its subject almost certainly is. But it makes for notably simplified drama. Read full review
50
IndieWireEric KohnNov 9, 2018
On the Basis of Sex plays like a sunny fantasy from a more optimistic age. Read full review
40
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeFeb 23, 2019
This brilliant original thinker is crowbarred into a stolidly conventional “triumph against the odds” narrative. It’s not an entirely terrible film. It’s just not the film that RBG deserves. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternDec 28, 2018
Is the film worthy of her? Not really. It’s informative, in a didactic way, but basically an exercise in hagiography, a skin-deep celebration of someone who has never settled for superficiality in her life’s work. Read full review
39
Paste MagazineDom SinacolaJan 3, 2019
We’re typically never trusted to accept the reality of an icon’s life for what it is rather than what media consultants want it to exemplify. What the film’s real failing amounts to is any lack of interest in Ginsburg’s true superpower: Her inhuman, sleepless drive to do the work. Read full review
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