Harry: "This is insane! You manifested a woman with your mind!"Calvin: "You can't tell anybody, not mom, not Suzie, no one."Harry: "So we're just going to pretend she's your girlfriend?"Calvin: "She is my girlfriend. Stranger things have happened."Harry: "I don't think so. I think this is pretty much the strangest thing that's ever happened. Ever."
It's sad that this film did not get a wide release, because this movie would make you appreciate simplicity in film-making.
Its directors, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, are just into their second feature (the first - Little Miss Sunshine); which sorts of puts things into perspective. But before I go about honing praises on them, the most applaud should go to Zoe Kazan who wrote this brilliant film. This is her first screenplay, and its just so ... fresh. This film is like a breath of fresh air, as it attacks the male ego from a really odd angle, how? Well, what guy on the planet wouldn't want a girl that he can control her every thought and action ... and look! The manner in which this lovely story is told is captivating with some really funny scenes (my favourite - Antonio Banderas' Mort's facial impression of scotty).
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| He's an intellectual |
Ruby Sparks explores the fragility of the male ego in novelist Calvin Weir-Fields (played by Paul Dano); a character that's quite similar to the one he played in Little Miss Sunshine, but here his co-stars help bring his character, Calvin, into light. Chris Messina, Elliot Gould, Annette Bening and Antonio Banderas make up Dano's characters family on-screen, and these set of characters (which were brilliantly portrayed) helped this film from being just another awkward yet dark rom-com, rather they set the tone especially when Kazan's Sparks is brought into the mix. Dano's take on Calvin is tailor made, and his scenes with Kazan's Sparks at first seemed warm but as the film progressed, there was this hint of darkness that was looming; and indeed the film took a very weird and dark turn, it raised some very important issues into the reality of relationships as opposed to a Hollywood version.
While Ruby Sparks can be considered a literary fantasy, I like the fact that the movie never really dwells on the "how" regarding Sparks creation but rather on how perfection starts from within, this film not a myopic relationship-centric comedy, showing how the path to self improvement.
A fantastic film!
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