Freeheld

A New Jersey cop (Julianne Moore), dying of cancer, fights to secure her pension rights for her registered domestic partner (Ellen Page), seeking equality with heterosexual couples. The story of Det. Laurel Hester, subject of a 2007 Oscar-winning documentary, gets big-movie treatment from writer Ron Nyswaner and director Peter Sollett. The story is righteous and Moore and Page are strong (as is Michael Shannon as Moore's police partner), all to the movie's credit. On the debit side: The script feels too derivative of Nyswaner's Philadelphia 22 years ago, and padded out with romance-movie clichés—the meet-cute, the walks along the beach at sunset, etc. Sollett sets an uncertain tone—Steve Carell as Moore and Page's flamboyant supporter plays almost like a Saturday Night Live parody of gay activism. J.L.