Review of Ruby in Paradise (1993) by Vanessa B — 16 Nov 2004

[FONT=Tahoma]I don't really know where to begin on this movie. It starts out with Ruby (Ashley Judd) driving along. She stops in this small town, and we never really get why she took off. We get hints but never a full story. She makes one friend, a girl from her new job, but other than that she writes in her journal and we get to hear what she writes. I honestly thought this girl was going to kill herself at the end of the movie. She mentioned a couple of times "getting it over with" and she seemed very unhappy. I wondered if maybe the dullness and slow pace of the movie might have been done intentionally, to give the audience a feel of how Ruby felt. That is good if it was, but if not....

Some parts were good, like when she wasn't sitting alone in her little house being miserable. But it just kept going back to that. Dorothy Lyman plays the Ruby's boss, and it was hard for me to see her in a role other than Naomi from Mama's Family, but I think she did a good job. Ashley did a good job too, and she looks about 14 in this film.[/FONT].