Ruby Sparks left me thinking about it for quite a while. I thought it was funny. I thought it was a little disturbing. It was an interesting take on this sort of romantic-comedy, manic-pixie-dream-girl story. But I couldn't quite figure out if it was trying to say something about that type of story; about the type of man who imagines and hopes for something like that. I'm not sure if I ever quite came to any conclusion about it.
Calvin Weir-Fields is a young author, struggling to follow-up his first, smash novel, published when he was just 19. He feels the weight of the expectations and celebrity, clearly uncomfortable at readings and parties for him. He chastises people who call him a genius. To top it all off, he's single and lonely.
Calvin's therapist gives him a writing assignment – write one page about someone who likes his dog, Scotty. Calvin got Scotty to try and help open himself up and meet people, but he finds Scotty slightly embarrassing because he pees like a girl dog. Calvin has a dream about a woman and uses it as inspiration for the assignment. He writes pages and pages.
One morning, Calvin wakes up to find the woman he was writing about, Ruby Sparks, making breakfast for him. He freaks out, naturally. Believing her to be a figment of his imagination, he calls a college girl, who gave him her number at his last reading, for lunch. He tries to walk down the street and act as though Ruby isn't there. He tells her to wait at a corner while he goes to lunch, which she doesn't know about. While talking with the college girl, Ruby finally comes up to see wait Calvin is doing and causes a scene upon seeing him with the college girl. And, of course, once he realizes other people see her he knows that she is, in fact, real. Following this they start going out. Ruby doesn't realize she's a creation of Calvin's; Calvin puts the pages he wrote away and swears to not write any more about her or change her.
Naturally, what happens, at first everything is great, but after a while he grows weary of her free-spirit and not being able to just enjoy some quiet time and read, and she longs for a life beyond Calvin. She starts taking classes and making friends away from him and he becomes worried that she's thinking about leaving him.
The fear of losing Ruby and being alone drives Calvin to change her. And when the changes are unsatisfactory, as she becomes clingy (to the point of crying because they got separated crossing the street as he answers his phone and has to let go of her hand), he changes her again. Eventually, as things come to a head, he reveals to her that she is his creation and that he can control her, in an incredibly disturbing scene. When he realizes that he's gone too far, he sets her free, when she leaves she will have no memory of him or what's happened.
The idea of the manic-pixie-dream-girl is attractive, but not realistic. It's an attractive idea because of the thought that they'll set you free, your life will become exciting and interesting. But if you're not that type of person to begin with, and you're not interested in embracing that sort of change, inevitably it won't work out. Calvin wanted that, but he wanted it to work into his routine and be controlled, which defeats the purpose. He was the one who needed to change most if he wanted their relationship to last, but all he could think to do was try and change her – but by doing so he changed what it was he liked about her. He was too self-absorbed to look within.
It sounds heavy but it is actually very funny. Paul Dano is very good as Calvin, always a layer of sweetness and insecurity covering a self-absorbed and controlling character. While Ruby is a creation of Calvin's imagination, Zoe Kazan plays her with depth and enthusiasm. Kazan also wrote the screenplay which is wonderfully original, creative, and well-done. Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris direct the movie well, not heavy handed or with the idea they must try to be as quirky or weird as the story might suggest, they keep it grounded. Ruby Sparks is an interesting story that will make you laugh and think about relationships, your expectations of them, and yourself and how you'd deal with the reality of them.
3 out of 5
