Review: Ruby Sparks

Review: Ruby Sparks

Don't be fooled by the trailers on this one. Ruby Sparks may look like a cute, fun romantic comedy but underneath that enjoyable surface lies a deeper, anguished tale of obsession, perfection and the harsh truth of reality. 

It's an ode to the superb script (a little 500 Days of Summer with a dash of Meet The Parents, all thrown in to the Donnie Darko mixing pot) that, despite its frequent flips from romantic comedy to psychological drama, Ruby Sparks never feels messy or confusing. With a compelling protagonist, a suitable girl next door and absorbing displays of incredible acting, there is very little to complain about with regards to this feature.

So what's it all about? 

Paul Dano, fresh from his ill-fated role in Looper shows off his diversity as Calvin, a young writer whose first novel reached extraordinary heights by topping the New York Times Best-seller List. A few years later and Calvin lives alone, unable to eliminate the writer's block preventing him from publishing his follow-up book. That is until, after an extremely vivid dream about a fictional girl named "Ruby Sparks", Calvin begins writing her entire story - a story that suddenly becomes real as she appears as a physical being in his kitchen. 

Soon realising that Ruby isn't all she's totally built up to be, Calvin begins re-writing her entire personality, changing her moods and feelings to his will. Before long, he falls into a dangerous obsessive game as he tries to create the perfect girlfriend for himself, failing to understand that even the girl of his dreams can come with some very real life problems.

It's a delicate comic premise that doesn't get tangled up by any sci-fi or magical explanations as to how the situation could possibly occur. There's a guy with a typewriter. He just wrote a girl into existence. They are now in a relationship. "How does this even happen?" asks Calvin's brother. "I don't know, it's love, it's magic!" he replies, willing to bury his head in the sand.

Yet the charm of the movie is with Calvin himself; an every-man whose previous relationships have crumbled due to his incessant need for perfection. He has an idea of what his girlfriend should be, and until he literally creates his own, none have satisfied him before. Ruby Sparks is not afraid to show its dark side, and Calvin is the embodiment of the film's ambiguity in terms of its tone. Paul Dano plays him with a naive innocence that makes the later, more sinister scenes that bit more disturbing - seeing our protagonist make the wrong choices, and watching as his relationship with his dream girl falls apart, pulls us into the film even further than the superb acting did in the first place. 

Ruby herself is played brilliantly by Zoe Kazan, an extremely talented actress who also holds the credit of screenwriter for this particular film. At times we sympathize with Calvin, as Ruby slips through his fingers only to be snapped back as soon as he hits the typewriter. Yet, for all her cute, adorable perks, she too hides an underlying sadness and a need to find out the truth behind her existence. The standout scene of the film, in which Calvin sinks to his all time low by using his typewriter in front of Ruby and forcing her to carry out a mixture of absurd and degrading acts to prove he can "make her do anything", shows that Kazan is capable of more than just giggling and smiling - she packs a serious emotional punch.

If her acting is a punch, then her writing is a knockout. There is comedy littered all over Ruby Sparks, particularly in the first act where Calvin is still trying to determine whether or not Ruby is real - yet it succeeds at becoming a true study of a relationship. Should one person have more power than the other? Is ambiguity healthy? Is there really a perfect match for everyone, or should we just accept that we're to make do with what we're given? It's a deep study into the psychological needs of one half of the relationship, and there are curveballs around every corner.

So the only complaint to be made regarding the film is the fact that the supporting characters are incredibly unoriginal. About an hour in we meet Calvin's mum and stepdad, a pair of 'medicinal plant' growing free spirits who live detached from society. One would be forgiven for being reminded of Meet The Parents, particularly when it comes to Antonio Banderas playing Calvin's incredibly eccentric stepdad - and just try to hear him talking without thinking of Puss In Boots!

Add to that Calvin's very overly familiar brother, a man who initially can't believe his sibling's situation, and we have a ragtag band of secondary fillers who do very little to push the plot forward.

Despite this, though, the constantly changing vibe of the narrative is enough to keep audiences completely engrossed in the story.

Summary

Ruby Sparks doesn't try to be any more than it actually is. Primarily, it is a love story, but it is an incredibly diverse one. Beneath its bubbly exterior, the film hides a thought-provoking examination of modern relationships and the over-possessive tendencies one may have over another person. The story will stay with you long after you leave the cinema and, despite some unnecessarily contrived side characters, Ruby Sparks is a superbly acted, brilliantly scripted flick for anyone who's ever wondered "what if?" after all was said and done.

9/10 - Brilliant

See it if you liked: 500 Days of Summer (2009), The Truman Show (1998), Little Miss Sunshine (2007)