There will always be debates over why there should be a huge cash settlements for cases like this, here a claim of sexual harassment and wrongful termination, and it's pretty obvious that boss Anthony LaPaglia who fired secretary Gia Carides is guilty of something. Her fair-minded attorney, Catherine Wilkin, takes down the testimony, indicates that it will be her word against his, and in conversations with his boss, it's indicated that this is not the first time this issue has cropped up. "We all know that the man is always the villain. The system stinks.", LaPaglia exclaims when confronted with the settlement amount she wants, and Wilkin even indicates that only the cases with strong evidence have gotten a settlement like that. In fact, it was her that mentioned the amount in the first place, simply just as an example what has happened in the past.
There's a subplot concerning her family, with her lesbian sister, her very sexist father and the possiblity of sexual abuse in both of their pasts. Zoe Carides as the sister is a very difficult character to like or sympathize with her until she shows vulnerablity about the past, her extreme feminism often seeming misandrist. But I guess when you grow up in a family of misogynists, that reaction isn't an unrealistic response. There's also a brother they ridicule for his conversion to Christianity, an aspect of the plot I found rather unnecessary. It's trying to deal with too many issues, and it needed to Rob back on its extremist positions.
For the most part, I did not feel like I was being given a lecture, especially with how Wilkin handles the case, with impartiality and fairness and certainly no judgement as she investigates the charges. This is a film that deals with some uncomfortable truths from and towards both genders, and that made this better than what I had expected it to be. In light of the past 25 years having many changes on this subject, it's amazing how timely it is. After a while, I found it easy to not be on either side from the start, especially in certain aspects of Gina Carides' character who does lose some sympathy as sister Zoe gains it.
There's a subplot concerning her family, with her lesbian sister, her very sexist father and the possiblity of sexual abuse in both of their pasts. Zoe Carides as the sister is a very difficult character to like or sympathize with her until she shows vulnerablity about the past, her extreme feminism often seeming misandrist. But I guess when you grow up in a family of misogynists, that reaction isn't an unrealistic response. There's also a brother they ridicule for his conversion to Christianity, an aspect of the plot I found rather unnecessary. It's trying to deal with too many issues, and it needed to Rob back on its extremist positions.
For the most part, I did not feel like I was being given a lecture, especially with how Wilkin handles the case, with impartiality and fairness and certainly no judgement as she investigates the charges. This is a film that deals with some uncomfortable truths from and towards both genders, and that made this better than what I had expected it to be. In light of the past 25 years having many changes on this subject, it's amazing how timely it is. After a while, I found it easy to not be on either side from the start, especially in certain aspects of Gina Carides' character who does lose some sympathy as sister Zoe gains it.