Ruby Sparks (2012)

Ruby Sparks is the story of a writer who could create the girl of his dreams just by the ink of his typewriter and his fingers. Ruby finds himself struggling with the reality of whatever his girlfriend has come to be because of his ideas.See, the concept itself is interesting IF used correctly, and so it was. But during the last 30 minutes it felt the movie lost steam and needed a re-establishment, something that can do it for an ending, fortunately that was fixed during the last minute, but the 30 minutes period is still a thing to speak about. Nevertheless, the dialogue seemed decently fine and the acting was good, there could've been some adjustments and also the story line which was included surely didn't fit the 1h30min so it felt like it was lengthened on purpose, otherwise they could've used different approaches to advantageously fulfill the movie window period.7/10

RUBY SPARKS starts off with a killer premise: a useless schmuck of a writer, suffering from writers block and a breakup from her girlfriend, decided to write about a perfect, ditzy, happy-go-lucky girl spawned from his shallow, unsocial male gaze. But after one Twilight-Zone-Ray-Bradbury night, she ultimately comes to life from the pages and acts like just the perfect character booster for our titular hero. Now to anyone pulling out the Manic Pixie Dream Girl card (lord knows it's not unwarranted based on the first 30 minutes alone), the kicker is that she would grow and adapt as a real human being, blossoming with her own agency instead of acting for someone else.You'd think with a killer premise, they'd come up with some insightful ways this could play out. Maybe a statement of our modern relationship issues, or how women don't get proper credit in fictional literature, or how the world will process to someone like her. Considering the directing duo behind the surprisingly clever LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, anything is possible right? LOL NOOOPE! For all it's buildup, it sets up as a statement on the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope only to then make up something even worse. For one thing, even if she did try to make up her own mind, the writer still has control over her by just typing on a keyboard. Yep, she's still basically influenced by man anyway, but it's all ironic right? I seem to get that impression anyway, because otherwise how the f#@k do you end like that with a straight face? After all the 90+ minutes of wasted potential, it decided to end on such an awkwardly staged and hilariously stupid climax ever. Without spoiling, this so-called set piece would be if like if someone threw around a voodoo doll and made it play the hokey pokey. Sure their last film ended with girl stripping to Super Freak on a little beauty pageant, but this is plain f@#ing stupid.And yet somehow it manages to be the one true novel thing about the entire damn movie. The rest of it just feels like a rote, first draft Woody Allen comedy. The characters are either despicable or one-note, the script sorely lacks, Paul Dano was obnoxious, Poor Zoe Kazan tries to liven up the scene with nothing to work with, the final 5 minutes feels like nothing was accomplished, and the whole thing was an overall chore. Only things going for it is Zoe Kazan again, the directors tight filmmaking and that howl of a climax.Much like STRANGER THAN FICTION, though, it goes all in with interesting Kaufman-esque scenarios but can't cash the check. But hey, at least unlike that it didn't LOOK like total pretentious sh!t.

Not going to say much about Ruby Sparks other than if you're expecting a romcom then prepare for enlightenment. This is a tightly written, wonderful, internally exploratory existential piece that will leave you thinking. I wish it were based on a novel, so I could curl up and read it on a rainy afternoon.

This film is a great riff on Pygmalion with great comic highlights as well as darker questions about controlling a relationship. Well acted, lots of fun, and original. In a world where intelligent scripts are in short supply, this one definitely makes the grade.What would you do if you could create your dream mate, to determine if that person was happy or sad, what they did and what they felt? What would that control feel like? What would you do if the dream mate started growing and having her own feelings, moving away from you in the process? How can you let go of something you have created? There's plenty to think about in this movie, yet it is sweet, light and amusing. Kudos to the team that brought it forward.