Ruby Sparks

This is the most creative romance film you'll come by. I don't like romance films. The Notebook is predictable, and my favorite part of Titanic is when the boat snaps in half. This movie frustrated me the way most romance movies do. The male protagonist is problematic, the problems that arise in the plot are largely blamed on the female protagonist, and the arguments that happen seem petty and are annoying. This movie is quirky and cute in a lot of instances; the same directors that did Little Miss Sunshine did Ruby Sparks. What I do appreciate about this movie is the way the relationship comes about. Calvin, the main character, is a writer, and to combat writers block, he writes nonsensically about this perfect girl; this perfect girl (Ruby Sparks) appears in real life, in his apartment the next morning, believing she is his girlfriend and completely unaware that she is the reality of his writing. The part of this movie that is gripping for me, is the fact that this story quickly switches to a movie about morality: Calvin's morality.

At first, the relationship is the most amazing thing. The fact that she appeared and is perfect is a miracle, and at first, that's all Calvin really treats Ruby as-- a miracle girlfriend. Soon though, Calvin realizes he can still edit Ruby. He can type on his typewriter whatever he wants to edit her personality, what she thinks about a situation, really anything he wants. So he does. He begins changing her so he doesn't have to change to make the relationship work, he can continue to be the narcissistic, selfish writer that he is, and if Ruby gets sick of it, he just types out a solution to the problem.

The acting as well as the repertoire of actors in this movie are phenomenal. Antonio Banderas makes an appearance in this movie as Calvin's sultry step-father. Deborah Ann Woll has a short appearance as Calvin's ex. Steve Coogan plays a too-into-himself artist. You get it; there's a lot of interesting casting going on in this movie. Zoe Kazan as Ruby does an amazing job especially as the movie nears the end. The only other movie I've seen Paul Dano (Calvin) in was Little Miss Sunshine and while the characters are similar in their being outcasts, it's still an impressive shift; everyone is pretty impressive in this movie.
Audiences first see Ruby and believe that she has unconditional love for Calvin. Calvin believes she has unconditional love for Calvin too, so he doesn't go out of his way to make the relationship necessarily work, he just goes on with his life without any real consideration that what he does effects two people at this point. Obviously, Ruby begins to become unhappy in this one-sided relationship, because while she is technically fictional, she is still aware like a real person. Ruby becomes sad, Calvin writes that she is always happy; Ruby becomes too happy and too free-spirited, Calvin writes that she always needs him; Ruby becomes too clingy, Calvin writes her back to normal and the relationship falls apart again. That's where the theme of morality comes into play, and this movie isn't defined as being a movie about morality, but the only interesting aspect of this movie I could pull from it was analyzing Calvin's.
The finale is simultaneously my favorite and least favorite part of the movie. The fallout in the end is cinematically wonderful; the actual end of the movie is a cop-out. Calvin gets so caught up in how immoral it is to control this poor girl without her knowledge, to prove to her that she is simply a figment of his imagination they have this scene where Ruby is in the room with Calvin while he types out her different personality changes. It goes from making her jump up and down, to making her get down on her hands and knees and act like a dog, to making her sing and strip in front of him, and at that point she's crying and it's such a devastating scene to watch her realize she isn't actually a real person, really. The scene ends with Calvin slamming his hand on the typewriter and Ruby just collapses and now, when she gets up, she's afraid of Calvin and runs away. The cop-out that annoys me in the end is that Calvin finds her in a park one day and she doesn't remember anything. He no longer has control over her, but he gets a second chance to make it with her. The only other cop-out that annoyed me more was the ending of Edge of Tomorrow.

I admire Ruby Sparks for the films creativity. The characters are quirky and the acting is great. If you like romantic movies, chances are you'll like this one, because aren't they all the same really? If you're like me, you can probably appreciate this movie for a lot of things that don't include the character development or the resolution. There are good components in this movie, just not enough to make me say I like it. The good and the bad in Ruby Sparks just kind of balance each other out. If you're looking for an interesting movie, and you can come by this one, it might be worth a shot; if you find the plot interesting, it's maybe worth seeing just to see how they executed the idea.