The Lilly Ledbetter movie Lilly is the latest inspirational biopic—an underrated film subgenre. Moviegoers need stories that inspire, especially when they’re true stories people can take comfort in. Ledbetter’s life is one such story, and Oscar nominee Patricia Clarkson is a winner in the title role. But the movie itself never reaches the heights that it should.
For those not in the know: Ledbetter made national headlines when she sued Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company for employment discrimination, in a legal battle that went all the way to the United States Supreme Court. She is the namesake of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2011. Anyone who has a chance to read her memoir, Grace and Grit, should definitely do so. In contrast, Lilly is more of a surface-level appreciation of her accomplishments.
Director Rachel Feldman, who also co-wrote the script with Adam Prince, mostly tells Lilly’s life story in a straight line, complete with regular on-screen notices of what year it is and what’s happening at the time. “Mostly” applies because there are stylistic choices and asides that make Lilly feel choppy instead of the movie being a steadily building journey. Feldman wants to tell this story in all kinds of ways. At one point, Clarkson provides voiceover narration as Lilly. At several others, real-life footage is interjected, seemingly to build connective tissue between scenes. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who famously read her dissent from the bench in Ledbetter’s Supreme Court case, appears so often that it starts to feel like the movie is partially about her. Lilly would be a stronger film if Feldman had settled on one creative approach and used that to make the narrative feel less predictable.
Because the audience knows the beginning and end of this movie, even if they don’t know Lilly Ledbetter. They’re aware that they’re watching an underdog story and they’re waiting for that emotional crescendo. It does not come from the narrative itself. Instead, it comes from the performance by Clarkson, who is steely throughout. Even in Lilly’s vulnerable moments, she has a “don’t mess with me” strength that the film thrives on. Movies in this subgenre only work if the underdog has bite, and Clarkson proved she has that a long time ago.
Tony Award winner John Benjamin Hickey also has some fine moments as Lilly’s husband Charles. Originally, Josh Lucas was cast in the role, and while it’s clear Hickey is a better match for Clarkson, it’s also hard not to wonder what Lucas would have done in the part. His work in the undervalued Glory Road shows that he has exactly the inspiring energy that Lilly wants to bring; it just doesn’t get there because the film has so much going on creatively that the emotional straight-line journey gets lost.
Aside from Hickey, The Newsroom‘s Thomas Sadoski is the other co-lead in Lilly as attorney Jon Goldfarb. Sadoski also acquits himself well, but Goldfarb doesn’t have a big courtroom moment or even an impassioned speech; he’s a reserved character. That means Sadoski never reaches the heights of what viewers know he can do. Lilly underutilizes some of its other actors, including To Kill a Mockingbird‘s Will Pullen as Lilly’s estranged son Phil and the late Paul Teal (The Hunting Wives) as Tim Granger. This is obviously Clarkson’s film to carry and she makes it look easy, but the other actors could add even more color to the palette if their characters didn’t feel quite so functional.
A good comparison is to the Ginsburg biopic On the Basis of Sex. That film likewise featured a fantastic lead performance from Felicity Jones as Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and it also was straightforward narratively. But it was able to connect with its audience emotionally because there weren’t so many other elements interjecting, and because the supporting characters enhanced the world. So when Jones as Ginsberg got her moment in the sun, the viewer felt like they had been on that journey with her.
Lilly, in contrast, is well-acted and very well-intentioned. Patricia Clarkson could read the ingredients on a paint can and it would be entertaining. Yet it doesn’t feel alive. The audience learns who Lilly Ledbetter is, but they don’t feel like they’re standing with her. This movie is a fine introduction to her, yet the full story is still within the pages of her book.
Lilly is now streaming on Netflix. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Blue Harbor Entertainment.
Article content is (c)2020-2026 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.
