Ruby Sparks
Starring: Paul Dano. Zoe Kazan, Elliott Gould, Chris Messina, Annette Bening, Antonio Banderas
Director: Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris
Rating: 4/5
Back in 2006 directors Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris brought us one of the most charming movies of the year in the form of Little Miss Sunshine and now, six years later, the duo are back with Ruby Sparks.
Written by actress Zoe Kazan the movie reunites Dayton and Faris with actor Paul Dano as he leads an all star cast.
Calvin (Dano) is a young novelist who achieved phenomenal success early in his career but is now struggling with his writing - as well as his romantic life.
Finally, he makes a breakthrough and creates a character named Ruby who inspires him.
When Calvin finds Ruby (Kazan), in the flesh, sitting on his couch about a week later, he is completely flabbergasted that his words have turned into a living, breathing person.
This really is a rom-com like never before as Ruby Sparks breathes new life into this tired and rather boring genre.
And that is largely thanks to Zoe Kazan who presents herself as a serious double threat; screenwriter and actress.
And it is the script that is the real power behind this movie as it is a very observant piece of work that looks at how we try to control relationships.
Kazan moves the story from quirky to quite dark at the tip of a hat and it is something that works really well.
And Kazan delivers a fantastic central performance as Ruby and she has a great onscreen chemistry with Dano.
And Dano gives a great performance as he keeps the character of Cal just about on the right side of sympathetic as he becomes more and more controlling as the movie goes on.
Sadly Annette Bening and Antonio Banderas are desperately underused but their appearance is incredibly memorable as they are larger than life and funny characters.
But Ruby and Cal are the heart and soul of this movie in a film that looks at relationships and the balance of power and what we are willing to do to retain that power.
On the surface Ruby Sparks looks like a bubbly and fun romantic comedy but strip that away and you have a darker movie that is both powerful and emotional.
Whether the ambiguous ending really works I am not so sure but it does leave the movie on a note of hope.
Ruby Sparks is out now
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Paul Dano