Let us start with an aside. When I hear the title “Ruby Sparks” I picture a movie about an aged black jazz singer. Maybe Alfre Woodward or Angela Bassett plays her with a no-nonsense attitude. By night she’s a jazz singer at the local dive and by later that night she’s a private detective. My Ruby Sparks takes place in New Orleans and her jaded ex-lover has come back in town with a secret from her past that was better left in the faded cardboard box where it has awaited all these years. The ex-lover would be played by Jon Hamm because that dude can do it all.
Warning to all those who only read the first paragraph of a review then skim for references to possible nude scenes: “Ruby Sparks” is not about a Jazz singer/Private dick. The film is actually a unique Romantic Comedy starring real life couple Paul Dano (“There Will Be Blood”) and Zoe Kazan (TV’s “Bored to Death”) that mixes a touch of fantasy to the genre. The result is sort of Charlie Kaufman-lite exercise that plays like a companion piece to Kaufman’s “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and “Adaptation” without all the head-scratching.
Dano plays novelist Calvin Weir-Fields, a former wunderkind living in Los Angeles whose best days may be behind him. Calvin wrote an important book in his late teens but that was over a decade ago and writer’s block has taken up permanent residence in his poor brain. He has no friends but his alpha-male brother Harry (Chris Messina who is suddenly everywhere with turns in “The Mindy Project” and “Argo”) and women only sleep with him because he’s famous. Or was famous. Calvin sees a shrink. It doesn’t seem to be helping.
While searching for inspiration for his next novel, Calvin starts to dream of his perfect girl, Ruby (Kazan) with her hipster quirk that makes her a kindred spirit to Zooey Deschanel’s “New Girl”. Lots of Fox Tuesday Night Comedy Lineup references here. Sorry. They are not paying me, I promise. Through some sort of unmentioned magic, Ruby comes alive and becomes Calvin’s real life girlfriend. People can see her, it is not a crazy fabrication, and Calvin learns that anything he writes Ruby must do. What follows is a thinly veiled metaphor for a controlling relationship.
Directed by real life couple Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, “Ruby Sparks” is the long overdue follow up to the pairs solid 2006 comedy “Little Miss Sunshine”. This film starts in a cutesy place with its high-concept premise and surprisingly goes into some dark territory as it analyzes the material at all angles. By having this god-like power over poor Ruby, Calvin’s worst traits come to the surface and what seems like a perfect situation morphs into a nightmare.
While Dano delivers a complex and textured performance the revelation here is Kazan. Her Ruby is fleshed out and real as the blossoming star also wrote the screenplay. There is a wisdom she brings that lies beneath the gimmick that makes “Ruby Sparks” a moving and worthwhile experience.
DVD & Blu-ray Special Features:
● Behind the Story
● Real-Life Couples: Co-Stars & Directors
● Be Careful What You Wish For
● Theatrical Trailer
● Sneak Peeks of: The Sessions, The Blu-ray Experience and Lola Versus
Blu-ray Exclusive Special Features:
● Getting to Know the Cast
● Los Angeles: The Other Character