Movie Review: Ask Dr. Ruth

Ask Dr. Ruth *** / *****

Directed by: Ryan White.

 

I am sure that the makers of Ask Dr. Ruth would like nothing more than to have their film described as Won’t You Be My Neighbor, but for America’s Sex Therapist, instead of America’s favorite children’s show host. The goal is basically the same – take an icon from the past, and make it clear for a modern audience just why they were important – and how they are still relevant. And Dr. Ruth Wertheimer is a good subject. In the 1980s, she really was America’s Sex Therapist – starting with a radio show in New York, and eventually building an empire. She was very popular on the late night talk show circuit – and the daytime talk show circuit, even getting her own show at one point. And that was odd – Dr. Ruth was already well into her 50s when she became famous. She was short – under five feet – an immigrant from Germany and Israel – whose family was killed in the Holocaust. And yet, she was always smiling and laughing. And she was always positive. She has been steadfast in her support for access to abortion, and for gay rights as well – even back when it wasn’t at all popular. She helped bring sex out of the shadows and get people talking about it. Now, there is an entire industry built around this.

 

As a documentary, Ask Dr. Ruth is fine – if a little more straight forward and surface level than you may want. One of the key differences between Ask Dr. Ruth and Won’t You Be My Neighbor is that Dr. Ruth is still very much alive. She is 90 now, and still active – she still teaches, she still writes books, she still travels all over giving interviews and talks. She is the most active 90-year-old you can imagine – and by all appearances, she will keep going until she can no longer go. She is like the Energizer Bunny.

 

While this would seem like a good thing for the documentary, I’m not sure it really is. Dr. Ruth is the main interview subject in the film – as director Ryan White follows her everywhere she goes – including a trip to Israel and back. While it’s amazing to see Dr. Ruth still going, the problem is that she isn’t the most introspective of people – at least not publicly. She tells the story of her childhood (which we see in animated sequences, narrated by others – an odd choice since Dr. Ruth’s voice is so distinctive, and the narration comes from her diaries) and of her multiple marriages – especially her third, and final one, that last nearly 40 years. But if you’re looking for much insight into who Dr. Ruth is as a person, you won’t find it here.

 

The film does offer a good recap of Dr. Ruth’s career – especially the time in the 1980s when she was everywhere. There is a treasure trove of clips of her talking to people like Conan, Letterman or Carson – always drawing a laugh from the audience, the more uncomfortable she can make the hosts, the better. And clips of her talking about more serious issues – like abortion or gay rights. She is steadfast in her belief that she shouldn’t talk about politics – even when asked point blank, she won’t tell you what she thinks about Donald Trump or any other politician. She thinks everyone needs the information she is trying to get out there – and if she becomes political, it will turn some off. She won’t even call herself a feminist – even after her daughter and granddaughter press her, and try to explain to her that she says she believes everything feminists say they believe, all Dr. Ruth can offer is that she doesn’t think people should go around burning bras.

 

All that said, it’s pretty hard to deny that Ask Dr. Ruth is an entertaining film. Dr. Ruth really is a force of nature, and its fun to see her in her prime, and right now, and see she is the same person, still chugging along, still offering advice and help – still fighting for what she believes. It makes me feel lazy to see what she is still doing. I do wish the film went deeper – but if the subject doesn’t want to go there, there isn’t much the doc can do.

Movie Review: The Case Against 8

The Case Against 8
Directed by: Ben Cotner & Ryan White.
Written by: Ben Cotner & Ryan White.

One of the bitter ironies of election night in 2008, is that while history was being made with Barack Obama’s election to the White House – something that would have been unthinkable, not all that long ago – was that while one historical prejudice was seemingly set aside (at least for one night), another prejudice was upheld. Proposition 8 in California was passed – which overturned its States’ Supreme Court ruling that allowed gay marriage to become legal – a decision that essentially annulled 18,000 marriages that had happened before it passed. A legal challenge was almost immediately launched on behalf of two couples – Jeffrey Zarrillo and Paul Katami and Kristin Perry and Sandra Stier. The two lawyers who represented the couples were surprising to many – Ted Olson and David Boies had already fought a famous Supreme Court Case – Bush v. Gore that settled the 2000 election – but on opposite sides. Boies taking the case made a lot of sense – a long time Democratic and progressive lawyer – but Olson shocked a lot of people. He was one of the most well-known Conservative lawyers in the country.

Ben Cotner and Ryan White’s The Case Against 8 sets out to tell the story of the long legal battle, which eventually made its way to the Supreme Court of America, where in a narrow 5-4 vote, Proposition 8 was overturned – essentially because the anti-marriage equality side could not prove they had standing in the case – that is, that they could not prove how they were injured or harmed by gay marriage.

The film follows the story, from the time the two lawyers take up the case right up until after the Supreme Court ruling. The filmmakers were obviously hurt by the fact that the court made a last minute decision to not allow cameras in the courtroom in the initial trial – the one where the couples themselves testified, as did the government experts – one of whom Boies seems to turn to his side right on the stand. It’s not nearly as dramatic to look at words on a page, while a disembodied voice reads it, as it would have been to see it happen live. But the filmmakers had little choice in that.

What they do very well is approach the material from two different viewpoints – when concentrating on Olson and Boies; the film is good at making the argument for marriage equality and the legal foundation for such recognition – essentially appealing to your mind. When it concentrates on the two couples, and their families, who fought hard and long, and who tell their stories, the movie is going directly for your heart – appealing to your emotions, which may not have any place in a courtroom, but is welcome in a documentary like this.

The movie doesn’t pretend to be fair or balanced – it doesn’t even detail the anti-marriage equality side of the argument – pretty much simply saying they don’t have one (which I agree with). It also makes the film less inflammatory than it otherwise may have been – it doesn’t shy away from showing the numerous protesters hold signs like “God Hates Fags” and other hateful garbage, but it doesn’t give them a platform to spout their hate speech either – not even for the purpose of mocking it. The title of the movie is, after all, The Case Against 8 – and that is what it shows. I don’t really have a problem with that.

The movie lacks suspense – obviously – since we all know how the case is going to turn out. But it’s an interesting documentary about how exactly they got to that Supreme Court case – one that affected not just the two couples in the film, but all gays and lesbians in California – and considering legal challenges across the country are using it as a basis to challenge the anti-marriage equality laws in their state – everyone in America. That change is a good thing – and this movie shows how America got that change.