Delayed Reaction: Ruby Sparks

Premise: An author writes about an imaginary girlfriend who somehow comes to life.

 

Around 2012, a movie like Ruby Sparks felt necessary. In 2005, critic Nathan Rabin coined the term Manic Pixie Dream Girl to describe a problematic character that had existed for years*. Despite calling out this trend, that character still kept getting written into movies (think: Zooey Deschanel in Yes Man). Attempts to subtly poke at the idea in movies like (500) Days of Summer (also a Deschanel movie) gained little traction and mostly got lumped in with the other MPDG movies anyway. As often is the case with movies, the way to get a trope under control isn't to define it or slyly play with it. You need to attack it head on. And that's what Ruby Sparks is.

 

*For those who need a refresher, a Manic Pixie Dream Girl is a female character who ""exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures."

 

It's easy to see how in the wrong hands, Ruby Sparks could be a rather dangerous MPDG movie. It's about an author writes his own girlfriend into existence, creating a perfect, idealized woman. I'll be honest. Early on in the movie when Paul Dano first embraces the appearance of Zoe Kazan's Ruby, it seemed sweet, and there was a part of me that thought "a Ruby Sparks would be great". Pretty quickly though, the movie reveals the danger of this. When Ruby starts to become more human and lose interest, Dano tweaks her in his writing until a series of overcorrections break her mentally (and sort of physically too). It's a savvy bit of writing (credit to Kazan, who wrote the screenplay too) about the nefarious consequences of idealizing people. Much like how a Not Another Teen Movie killed the 90s/early 2000s teen comedy by calling the writing conventions out, Ruby Sparks ends up being pretty necessary. I won't say that the MPDG has gone away since Ruby Sparks, but I have to imagine the movie has been referenced in more than a few script notes in the last 8 years.

 

Even if you take out the MPDG elements of the movie, I was sure to really enjoy this. I love movies about writing. This compares favorably to my all-time favorite movie, Stranger Than Fiction with the questions of free will and the responsibility of the author. So, I loved most of it. However, I don't think Dano's character deserved that ending. He's an awful person throughout the movie. The fact that he had to go to such lengths to realize the error of his ways with Ruby is troubling and doesn't lead me to think he can flip a switch and be fixed. Him getting a second chance by meeting a "real Ruby" is too clean. I guess the movie isn't trying to be too much of a downer, but the movie is much quicker to forgive him than I am. Perhaps that ending will age better once I give it some time.

 

Side Note: OK, is that house where Annette Bening and Antonio Banderas live real? That place is incredible. Even before I really turned on Dano because of all the Ruby stuff, I hated him for not appreciating the friggin' paradise he got to hang out in.

 

Verdict: Strongly Recommend