Oh dear. I was set to love Freeheld, Peter Sollett's adaptation of the Oscar-winning documentary about New Jersey cop Laurel Hester (Julianne Moore), and her fight in the face of terminal illness and bigoted policies towards gay couples to have her pension go to her partner, Stacie Andree (Ellen Page), upon her death. Laurel's pension is technically allowed to go to Stacie, but a bunch of grim-faced local officials called "freeholders" stand in the way, and Laurel is dying of late-stage lung cancer. Okay, so, a story about justice, with Julianne Moore and Ellen Page? How do you fuck that up? Oh, I guess by casting Steve Carell as a caricature of a gay man (WHY), but also half-Michael Scott (DOUBLE WHY), making his appearance in what's a mostly serious movie both jarring and offensive!

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