Posted By Steve Harcourt on August 14, 2013

If a film could be described as channelling Mannequin, Weird Science, and Stranger Than Fiction, whilst also having its own identity, this would be it.  Ruby Sparks is an unusual film with a heavy dose of wish fulfillment, but can it fulfill the wishes of the audience and make a connection?

Paul Dano stars as ‘Calvin’, a writer, who after the success of his first novel, has struggled to find anything to inspire him to write. A problem which has plagued him for many years.  Troubled, and socially awkward, ‘Calvin’ has been seeing a therapist (Elliot Gould) who suggests that he try to write a short piece about someone who likes his dog ‘Scotty’, and not to worry about the quality.  After agreeing to this assignment, ‘Calvin’ has a dream, where he meets a young woman he is enthralled by and, upon waking, becomes obsessed with writing about her.  When his brother ‘Harry’ (Chris Messina) and sister in law ‘Susie’ (Toni Trucks) come round for a visit and discover various items of women’s clothing, ‘Calvin’ says he thinks that ‘Scotty’ must be bringing them in, but all that changes when he wakes up to find a woman in the house.  Somehow ‘Calvin’ has created ‘Ruby’ (Zoe Kazan) through his writing. He is at first convinced he has lost his mind, although when he realises other people can see her, they begin a relationship.

On the face of it, this film is a romantic comedy and they can be horrifically formulaic affairs with events plodding along in all too predictable a motion and this, for me, makes the genre normally one to avoid.  This is not to say that there aren’t excellent examples out there, such as in the work of Woody Allen, especially Annie Hall, which is sometimes seen as the benchmark for the modern romantic comedy. Problematically, many films never reach this quality level.

Quite often the standard formula includes: an awkward initial meeting, romantic development, some kind of ‘honeymoon montage’, an argument, depression for one or both of the characters, the crunch point (someone is leaving or getting married etc..), a grand gesture, and then the happy ending.  Some of these do appear in Ruby Sparks, but generally it doesn’t follow this formula exactly, or at least avoids the biggest potholes along the way that so many mainstream films fall into. I suspect it helps that, thematically, this film is far from the usual fare.

Of the themes running throughout Ruby Sparks, there are several which go in a dark direction. Principally, themes of control, wish fulfillment and inadequacy, which takes it away from the usual fluffy type of Hollywood romantic comedy and into more unusual territory.  The characters are not ‘cookie cutter’ types by any stretch either, with each of them having a certain amount of depth and inner conflict. ‘Calvin’ is suffering from a lack of self awareness, feelings of inadequacy, need for control, as well as crippling social awkwardness that has severely stunted his emotional and social development. All of which is taken further than this genre would normally.  His character, although essentially the central role, isn’t a particularly likeable one by the end of the film and his deep flaws are displayed via disturbing tendencies, including one point where he takes his desire for control beyond all normal limits.  Strangely, he doesn’t seem to fully learn the error of his ways during the story, which is a little jarring considering the way the film ends. A conclusion of the dark path that has been trodden beforehand would have been preferable and more in keeping with that character development.  One other element that is never really addressed is where ‘Ruby’ ultimately comes from or whether she is really real.  In some ways this is good and in others it leaves you wondering why people aren’t asking more questions. I suspect this may have opened too big a can of worms for the plot and cast to grapple with.

The principal cast, especially the pairing of Kazan and Dano, have a great rapport, which in the case of Kazan and Dano isn’t that surprising as they are a couple in real life. Having said that, their work is excellent throughout, and their real life connection is just an interesting footnote.  In addition, as the writer, it should be expected that Kazan understands the material. She really pulls out all the stops, going from one emotional or dynamic extreme to the other as required, especially in one particularly dark scene, bringing the character fully to life.  The supporting cast is also strong, including Annette Bening, Antonio Banderas, Deborah Ann Woll and Steve Coogan. There are no obvious weak points and providing a solid basis for the whole drama.

So, on the whole, thankfully, Ruby Sparks isn’t your normal romantic comedy. With its unusual setup, and probably thanks in large part to that contrivance, this film has more things to say than your average fare in this genre.  Therefore, while it does hit some of the standard formula plot points, it deviates enough or has something to say that makes it less problematic, in my opinion, than many.  That said, as stated before, I did have a bit of a problem with the end section as I felt that it short-changed the previous discussions & ideas presented and didn’t follow through on the potentially difficult areas, brushing them under the carpet a bit.  All that aside, it is a very likable film with an excellent cast and I defy anyone not to warm to Zoe Kazan, who as both actor and writer deserves a lot of kudos.  Quirky, and a little flawed, it is very enjoyable and worth checking out. Choose this over more mainstream efforts.

Related posts:

Categories: Movies, Reviews
Tags: Annette Bening, Antonio Banderas, books, Chris Messina, Deborah Ann Woll, Elliot Gould, independent film, novelist, Paul Dano, quirky, Romance, romantic comedy, Ruby Sparks, Scotty, Steve Coogan, Toni Trucks, writer, Zoe Kazan