Review of Ruby Sparks (2012) by Mitchell B — 17 Nov 2012

In this Pygmalion-like tale, penned by Zoe Kazan (granddaughter of Elia), who also plays the titular character, Paul Dano conjures up his dream girl from the depths of his depressive imagination. When she turns out to have a will of her own, he writes her into submission, until finally, like any good author, he sets her free to enjoy the world and for the world to enjoy. At the end, he meets her once more, on equal terms (since her memory was re-set when he liberated her), and they . . . to be continued.

This was an enjoyable enough film, with an appealing performance from Zoe Kazan. Since she and Dano are a real-life couple, they have a relaxed and believable rapport with one another. As the author, Dano pushes the neurotic qualities of his character a bit too far, however, and it is difficult to root for him, since he's such a wet blanket. Fortunately for the film, his brother is played by the extremely capable and always fun Chris Messina, who livens up the story with his grounded and funny performance.

The script manages to be both predictable and inventive, and there were scenes that I genuinely enjoyed, such as when Ruby first appears in the flesh, and when Dano and Messina test her existence by writing changes in her behavior. But once the novelty wears, we are faced with the fact that the main protagonist is just not that interesting. He's a writer with writer's block, a therapist, and mother issues. Get over yourself, dude.

The directors, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, whose previous film, "Little Miss Sunshine," I adored, here do their best with the occasionally limited script, and sometimes succeed, sometimes don't.

Oh, there's also a cute dog.