On my 31st birthday I came home from work exhausted and overwhelmed. I turned my Blu-ray player on – it’s a fancy Blu-ray player that accesses different apps including my Amazon Prime video queue. I flipped through the various new releases, nothing jumped out at me… until I saw Ruby Sparks. Best $3.99 purchase I’ve made in a while!
I’ve been meaning to watch this movie. In fact, I tried to get several of my friends to go and see it in theaters, but they were either not interested, or we couldn’t get our schedules to line up. Needless to say, it all worked out because I needed to watch this film on this night. It was perfect and made my birthday feel a little more worthwhile (at the time I was having trouble deciding which was more depressing; turning 31 or the Tuesday it fell on).
What I liked: Everything. I know, that’s not a fair statement. But I did. I liked everything. The script. The characters. The plot. The locations. The whole movie was a breath of fresh air, original, quirky, real and yet magical.
The story line follows a struggling author, Calvin played by the talented Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine, There Will Be Blood) who dreams about a girl, writes her, and suddenly *poof!* she appears! Screenwriter Zoe Kazan plays Ruby Sparks and just seeing this single performance from her makes her a new favorite actress of mine. She is fearless.
What I didn’t like: I had to ponder this for a while. There is a scene towards the end of the film involving Ruby and an older gentleman and a pool – that’s all I’ll say. It struck me as an odd scene, but perhaps it’s odd because of an exchange Calvin has with an acquaintance directly beforehand. Either way, it seemed an odd way to create the inevitable climax that followed.
Favorite character: Every actor in this film gave a wonderful performance, but my favorite character is Harry, Calvin’s brother, played by Chris Messina. His quips throughout the film made me grin and giggle frequently. Harry is the only one that Calvin confides in about Ruby – so only he is aware that Calvin has created Ruby from thin air.
So if you find yourself at the end of a long day looking for something original, witty, funny, and well produced to watch, give Ruby Sparks a whirl.
Oh, and seriously… How adorable are these two? Happy Valentine’s Day!
Cinema Genius 