Ruby Sparks

Ruby Sparks
Directed by	Jonathan Dayton Valerie Faris
Written by	Zoe Kazan
Produced by	Albert Berger Ron Yerxa
Starring	Paul Dano Zoe Kazan Antonio Banderas Annette Bening Steve Coogan Elliott Gould Chris Messina
Cinematography	Matthew Libatique
Edited by	Pamela Martin
Music by	Nick Urata
Production companies	Bona Fide Productions Fox Searchlight Pictures
Distributed by	Fox Searchlight Pictures
Release date	July 25, 2012 (2012-07-25) (Limited release)
Running time	104 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$4,597,452

Ruby Sparks is a 2012 romantic comedy-drama film directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris and written by Zoe Kazan. It stars Paul Dano as a struggling novelist whose fictional character, Ruby Sparks, played by Zoe Kazan, comes to life.

Plot

Calvin Weir-Fields (Paul Dano) is a young novelist struggling with writer's block. He had written a successful novel at age 19, but has been unable to write anything of equal quality in the ten years since. His therapist, Dr. Rosenthal (Elliott Gould), gives him a writing assignment: to write a page about someone who likes his dog, Scotty, whom Calvin finds somewhat annoying. That night, Calvin has a dream in which he meets an attractive young woman, who draws a picture of Scotty and says she likes him. Calvin wakes up, inspired by the young woman, and writes several pages about her. He decides to make the woman, named Ruby Sparks (Zoe Kazan), the protagonist of his next novel, and realizes he is falling in love with her.

One night, Calvin's brother Harry (Chris Messina) and sister-in-law Susie (Toni Trucks) find several articles of women's clothing in one of Calvin's desk drawers. The next day, Calvin is stunned to find Ruby making breakfast in his kitchen, as an actual living person. Thinking he is going crazy, he calls Harry, who does not believe him and advises him to meet with someone else to take his mind off things. Calvin decides to meet with Mabel (Alia Shawkat), a fan of his novel who had given him her phone number at a recent party. However, he is unable to leave without being seen by Ruby; so he takes her along, leaving her to explore the shops while he goes to meet Mabel at a café. Ruby soon finds them; and Calvin discovers that Mabel can also see Ruby, meaning she is in fact a real person and not a figment of Calvin's imagination. Ruby fights with Calvin, thinking he is cheating on her with Mabel; but Calvin quickly makes up with her once he realizes the situation.

Calvin starts spending his time having fun with Ruby. He also introduces her to Harry and convinces him that she is his creation (by writing that she speaks fluent French, at which point she does). Harry is ecstatic that Calvin can literally make Ruby do anything he wants simply by writing it, but Calvin says he has stopped writing his manuscript (not wanting to ruin his relationship with Ruby) and asks Harry not to tell anyone of Ruby's origins. However, Harry warns him of the delicate nature of a woman, something Calvin does not take into account. After several months, Calvin takes Ruby to Big Sur to meet his free-spirited mother Gertrude (Annette Bening) and her woodworking, equally free-spirited boyfriend Mort (Antonio Banderas). While Ruby and his family enjoy themselves, Calvin spends the weekend reading by himself, growing jealous of the time Ruby is spending with other people when she is his creation. Ruby's happy spirit begins to dampen at Calvin's increased gloominess.

Back at Calvin's house, he continues to read and all but ignore Ruby. The final straw is when Ruby is singing a love song to him and he snaps at her to be quiet as he is reading. Distraught and fed up, she runs upstairs where he finds her curled up, crying. Ruby tells Calvin how lonely she is, suggesting they start spending less time together. She lives in her own apartment for part of each week, enrolls in an art class, and socializes with other people. Calvin is miserable without her and, out of desperation, writes that Ruby is also miserable without him. Ruby returns to Calvin's house full-time, but becomes incredibly clingy toward him, afraid to leave his side for even a second. Calvin tires of this and writes that Ruby is instead "filled with effervescent joy," at which point she becomes constantly manic.

After talking with Harry about what he has been doing, Calvin intends to write Ruby back to her normal self but the wording he uses leaves Ruby confused and slightly manic-depressive. Gloomy again, Ruby fights with Calvin once more. He attempts to cheer her up, and takes her along to a party hosted by author Langdon Tharp (Steve Coogan). At the party, Calvin talks with his agent, Cyrus Modi (Aasif Mandvi), and several others about his still-unfinished manuscript. He also runs into his ex-girlfriend Lila (Deborah Ann Woll), who has recently completed her own novel. They have a heated argument in which Lila accuses Calvin of only seeing her in an idealized way. Meanwhile, Ruby feels abandoned by Calvin and begins talking to Langdon, who appears to find her attractive. Langdon takes Ruby to his pool and attempts to seduce her by persuading her to skinny dip with him. Calvin finds Ruby about to join Langdon in the pool, with both of them stripped down to their underwear.

At home, Calvin and Ruby fight, with Ruby accusing Calvin of being overly controlling of her. As she prepares to leave Calvin, he reveals that she is a product of his imagination, and that he is capable of making her do anything he writes. He demonstrates this by first blocking Ruby with an invisible barrier, then by making her perform various actions, such as speaking French, acting like a dog, and repeatedly saying "I love you. I'll never leave you" and "You're a genius" (a term Calvin hates to be called). Finally, Calvin stops, his head bent in anguish over his typewriter; while Ruby, exhausted, runs into his bedroom and locks the door.

Calvin writes a final page in his manuscript, which states that when Ruby leaves his house, she will be free and no longer subject to his will. He leaves the manuscript outside his bedroom door, with a note telling Ruby to read the last page. The next morning, Calvin finds that the note is gone along with Ruby and breaks down sobbing. Harry, seeing him despondent, suggests he write a new book about his experiences with Ruby. The book, titled The Girlfriend, is a success and helps Calvin deal with his insecurities about writing and socializing. While walking Scotty in the park Calvin sees a woman with a striking similarity to Ruby, who has no recollection of him. She reveals that she is reading The Girlfriend and enjoying it. When Calvin reveals himself as the book's author the woman happily starts conversing with him, unintentionally revealing that she has friends and a social life (implying that if she dated Calvin she wouldn't depend on him as Ruby did, which made her depressive). They talk about Calvin's book, and the woman makes him promise not to tell her how the story ends.

Cast

• Paul Dano – Calvin Weir-Fields
• Zoe Kazan – Ruby Sparks
• Antonio Banderas – Mort
• Annette Bening – Gertrude
• Steve Coogan – Langdon Tharp
• Elliott Gould – Dr. Rosenthal
• Chris Messina – Harry

Writing

The film was written by Zoe Kazan who plays the title character Ruby Sparks. From early in the development she wrote the lead character Calvin with her then boyfriend Paul Dano in mind. During the writing Kazan thought of The Purple Rose of Cairo by Woody Allen and in the Groundhog Day, wanting to present a slanted version of our own reality. On the feminist aspects of the story Kazan explains she wanted to explore the idea of "being gazed at but never seen" where a woman is not properly understood but in a way that wasn’t unkind or alienating for men. She rejects the description of Ruby Sparks as a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, calling it reductive and diminutive, whereas Ruby Sparks is about the danger idealizing a person, of reducing a person down to an idea of a person. Kazan thanks Warren Beatty for his inderect encouragement of Paul Dano to develop their own material, and Dano in turn suggested she write a project.

Reception

Critical response

The film received positive reviews from many critics. Based on 152 professional reviews, Ruby Sparks obtained a "Certified Fresh" seal on Rotten Tomatoes with an approval rating of 79% and an average score of 7.1/10.

Stephen Holden from the New York Times described it as- "“Ruby Sparks” doesn’t try to pretend to be more than it is: a sleek, beautifully written and acted romantic comedy that glides down to earth in a gently satisfying soft landing." Online film critic Chris Pandolfi from At A Theater Near You called it "an intelligent commentary on the creative process, insecurity, controlling behavior, idealism, and the fragility of the male ego. It’s all rather ingeniously combined into one of the most likeable films I’ve seen all year – a fantasy, a character study, and a cautionary tale all rolled into one."

Box office

As of October 14, 2012 the film has earned $2,523,828 at the North American box office, with an additional $2,073,624 internationally, for a worldwide total of $4,597,452.

External links

• Official website
• Ruby Sparks at IMDb
• Ruby Sparks at Rotten Tomatoes
• Ruby Sparks at Metacritic
• Ruby Sparks at Box Office Mojo