O dear, I have to write ten lines about this pseudo-indie movie instead of just warning you off the overwhelmingly positive reception it has garnered among those apparently besotted by its smugly conceptual cleverness. Yes it has a 'guest' appearance by Annete Bening (though that whole part has no real function in the film), and the principal actors are just fine in their puppet-like roles. But there is a problem that makes it all into some kind of queasy, warped, tract: Once entering the realm of magical realism, it is essential to play by the rules, which this film does not do. The writer, who is supposed to be a very good writer, does not behave towards the character he creates as a good writer would. This figures, really, for it betrays a misunderstanding of literary creation that is reflected in the writing of the movie too. The whole thing is merely a construct, and further cheapened by the hypocritical grinding of too familiar axes, as well as a stupid supposedly sweetly paradoxical ending. Beware Hollywood in indie clothing.
Review of Ruby Sparks
Ruby Sparks
(2012)
Overrated: pseudo-indie contrivance by an overcontrolling writer
10 November 2012