Ruby Sparks

There’s nothing particularly groundbreaking about Ruby Sparks’ premise, but it’s still a pleasant confection of a movie with some interesting food for thought. Calvin (Paul Dano), a novelist and neurotic former teenage prodigy, is concerned that his glory days are far behind him. After his therapist (Elliott Gould) proposes a writing exercise, a literal dream girl (Zoe Kazan) named Ruby Sparks takes root in Calvin’s mind. In a strange and miraculous turn of events, Ruby manifests as a flesh-and-blood girl living in Calvin’s apartment and unaware of her origins on the page or of the strange power her “boyfriend” wields over her.

When Ruby switches from idyllic fantasy to bitter reality, the film reaches its zenith and strikes a chord. Too often in film women are treated as so-called "Manic Pixie Dream Girls" (MPDGs), existing solely as a vehicle for a male character’s development, bringing smiles and quirky revelations into the life of a dreary hipster. Ruby, a Zooey Deschanel-esque redhead brimming with naivete and twee cuteness, flips this ideal on its head. Unfortunately for Calvin, Ruby doesn’t want to merely be a love interest; she wants a job and her own friends, and she feels trapped. This deeply bothers Calvin, an irritating but interesting character who spends the first half of the film looking bewildered and the second half pouting.

Directed by husband and wife team Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, Ruby Sparks bears a great resemblance to their previous effort, Little Miss Sunshine. Like its predecessor, Ruby Sparks is full of quirky humor, odd characters and heart. However, the film doesn’t manage to reach the emotional heights of Little Miss Sunshine, nor does it mine laughs nearly as well.

Zoe Kazan pulls double duty as both the film’s writer and the titular ingénue. A recent Yale graduate and the granddaughter of the famed screenwriter and director Elia Kazan, she puts a refreshing spin on the myth of Pygmalion and Galatea—a sculptor who brings his greatest work of art to life with the help of Aphrodite and the power of love. The dialogue is sharp and perceptive, and both Calvin and Ruby are complex and flawed characters prone to roller coaster emotions. A real life couple, Kazan and Dano both display easy chemistry and awkward charm. Dano in particular shines as Calvin, who alternates between manic highs and brooding, possessive lows. Kazan, however, relies more on doe eyes and giggles; she’s a far more interesting writer than actress.

Ruby Sparks’ hamartia is Ruby herself; while trying to exist as a deconstruction of the MPDG, she gains the most irritating qualities of that stock character. The tragedy in this is that it’s clearly the opposite of Kazan’s intention. Though deeper than Calvin might prefer her to be, Ruby is still unreal, superficial and occasionally eyeroll-inducing. Otherwise, Ruby Sparks is an incredibly enjoyable film and a promising start to Zoe Kazan’s career as a screenwriter.