Calvin (29) wrote a famous teenage novel ten years ago, but could not repeat his success in the meantime, and now lives alone with his dog in a mansion, listening to his brother Harry taunting him for being single. Calvin decides to start writing a novel about his fictional dream woman, Ruby Sparks, but is shocked when one morning she comes to life and appears in his kitchen. Though bewildered at first, Calvin starts a relationship with her and enjoys his life. They meet his parents. However, when Ruby gets bored and moves out for a couple of days, Calvin uses his typewriter to writer that she returns to him infatuated, and Ruby complies. Calvin does not want to manipulate her, and sets her free with his typewriter. He completes the novel, and later meets a woman who looks exactly like Ruby, who wants to meet him.
In the somewhat similar ‘91 fantasy comedy “Delirious”, writer J. Candy finds himself inside his own TV show, and realizes he can control everything and everyone with his typewriter—a parallel can be drawn with this gentle romantic fantasy comedy “Ruby Sparks”, except that the concept narrows it down to the writer using his typewriter to control only one character, the title heroine who came alive from his novel and traversed into the real world. Though, ironically, in reality the person pulling the strings is actually the main actress Zoe Kazan, who wrote the script. For this film, directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris brought back their “Little Miss Sunshine” star Paul Dano as the geeky, hapless writer Calvin, and used the story to contemplate about some more bitter realizations in life: from free will; the relationship between the creator and his creation; slavery; loneliness in modern times; using power to compensate for incompetence; up to the creeping routine that causes disenchantment in the incredible subplot where even Calvin’s dream creation becomes bored with him and moves out for a few days, so Calvin resorts to his typewriter to write that she comes back to him. The storyline was not that well developed (all the sequences involving the parents seem as if they were hastily improvised on the spot) and feels as if it lacks that inspiration and magic when one watches its great movie poster. Likewise, one false note bothers, the misguided gore sequence of the couple watching bloody scenes at a Zombie film festival. Sadly, Kazan and Dano have insufficient charm or charisma to truly carry the romantic comedy aspect of the film, but are otherwise good actors. “Ruby Sparks” is just good enough to recommend, but did not get the most of its imaginative potentials.
Grade:++
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