Ruby Sparks

UK Release: 12th October 2012

Watched in the Cinema: Thursday 17th January 2013

Rating: 15

Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Romance

Runtime: 1hr 44mins

Tagline: She's out of his mind.

IMDb Plot Synopsis: Calvin is a genius novelist who begins to type a new novel on his manual typewriter about Ruby, his dream girl. He can't believe his eyes, because the next day, Ruby becomes a real person, and they begin to have a beautiful relationship together. If the relationship isn't perfect, all Calvin has to do is simply type the words on the page and Ruby's actions change to what he needs.

My Review: I’d heard good things about this quirky indie film and so was excited to see it finally come to my local town. It had that great modern quirky rom-com feel to it. A bit of 500 Days of Summer a vibe which I love so much bit with a great fantasy twist - what if a writer’s imaginary dream girl manifests into reality? It had such a great concept I was just worried there wouldn’t be more to it. The first act really builds up the character of Calvin and you get to know him well. He feels realistic and I could relate him and yet I didn’t always agree with his actions and opinions which I am always strving to find in healthy fully-formed characters. It would be easy to skim over this part and get to the main action but I appreciated getting to know him as then I felt like I understood his journey to the ending much more. The journey that both Calvin and Ruby go on is both mad and heart-breaking and is still leaving me reeling. It’s such a provocative idea. And I’m so glad that the ending was as clever as I’d hoped. During the third act I was concerned how the makers would leave it as it’s not the easiest film to wrap up satisfactorily for the audience but I think they did it well. It had a more natural subtle feeling to it and it could have gone a lot worse. 

Overall, the acting from Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan was outstanding and Kazan’s script was intriguing, insightful and gratifying. It was pretty much everything I was hoping it would be and still has me pondering. Which is a success in my eyes!

Score: 8.5/10