Another artsy film, Ruby Sparks was a limited release only showing in New York and Washington DC (in my area, that is) for the first few weeks before being released into the more artsy theaters, such as the Ritz.

Starring Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine), Ruby Sparks tells of a famous author, Calvin, who is at a major writing block in his career. Having his first novel published at the age of 19, it became a hit, but other than several short stories, no other full length pieces came to mind. Until his therapist made him write a scene about his dog and a person who loved the dog, even though he drooled and peed like a girl. That’s how Ruby Sparks (Zoe Kazan) was born.

Calvin became obsessed with writing about Ruby until it was all he could do. He realized he was falling in love and automatically realized how insane that was. How could he be in love? She wasn’t real! Until the day he wakes up to find her in his kitchen eating cereal. As his first girlfriend after a bad breakup, Ruby is exactly what Calvin is looking for. However, when she becomes unhappy, Calvin tries his best to fix it the only way he knows how: through words.

My main interest in seeing this movie was because of Paul Dano. I loved him in Little Miss Sunshine and had missed the last movie of his that was in theaters, Being Flynn, so I kept my eyes on the movie theaters until it showed it. I absolutely love this movie. Being a writer, I had an easy time connecting with the main character, especially since I have also fallen in love with one of my characters before. The ending was a bit strange, and I wasn’t really sure if it was supposed to be a little funny, so I felt a bit bad chuckling. But I couldn’t help it! This is definitely a movie for writers and lovers of independent films.

Grade: A+