Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This movie is alright as far as rom-coms go. It's cute, more original that your average rom-com, with some dramatic undertones that give it a bit more substance (though this also means that, for a comedy, it doesn't invest as much as it could on its funny side). The main characters are consistently written and well-acted, the supporting characters are a bit stereotypical but not annoyingly so.Zoe Kazan plays a "manic pixie dream girl" kind of character, the "dream girl" part being quite literal in this case, since she is supposed to be a character in a writer's mind who magically came to life. Paul Dano plays the writer, a dorky former-child-genius with a dark and controlling side (kinda like the "nice guy" tale who reveals a mean vengeful face when friendzoned by his crush). The story is mostly told from his perspective, going through an emotional journey that starts from disbelief, and goes through excitement, love, but also jealousy and anger.It is precisely that darker side that I would have liked to explore more, although I understand that this would not technically work within the rom-com convention. I just felt that it would be fitting for this kind of story (with the advantage of meta-fiction/meta-narrative) to break out of the rom-com convention, experimenting with stranger and darker themes, playing more with the moral ambiguity and psychological disturbances of the main character.Bottom line: nice and easy to watch, but somewhat restricted by staying faithful to its genre.

This movie seemed like a funny, carefree comedy, yet went so much deeper as it moved on. A must watch, in my opinion as it pulled off everything so smoothly. The movie feels enough to take you to another dimension and then roller coast you to dark depths. The different emotions would keep your eyes glued to the screen. Now you may watch it, as my expert opinion allows it.

This film is a great riff on Pygmalion with great comic highlights as well as darker questions about controlling a relationship. Well acted, lots of fun, and original. In a world where intelligent scripts are in short supply, this one definitely makes the grade.What would you do if you could create your dream mate, to determine if that person was happy or sad, what they did and what they felt? What would that control feel like? What would you do if the dream mate started growing and having her own feelings, moving away from you in the process? How can you let go of something you have created? There's plenty to think about in this movie, yet it is sweet, light and amusing. Kudos to the team that brought it forward.

'Ruby Saprks' is a great follow up film from the directors of 'Little miss Sunshine' that is an adventure of a writer and his creative process which comes to life… literally. Zoe Kazan wrote an exceptionally great script, and with the help of directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, 'Ruby Sparks' hits every beat.The film centers on Calvin (Paul Dano), a late twenties something writer whose first and only book became a huge success. Since then, he has suffered from writer's block, a thing most of us have gone through. In the vein of films like 'Harvey' and 'Stranger Than Fiction', 'Ruby Sparks' delivers that fantasy element of "What if my writing and characters come to life?" Inspired by the myth of sculptor Pygmalion, who was in love with one of his creations and saw it come to life, Zoe Kazan plays Ruby Sparks, a character in Calvin's new book. Calvin dreams of her and eventually writes a page or two about her only to walk into his seemingly empty house to find a strange girl who mimics the exact person he wrote.At first he thinks he is the only one who sees her, but once out in public and others start communicating with her, his world is turned upside down. The only person he lets in on this little secret is his brother Harry (Chris Messina), who can't believe his own eyes either. Calvin proves his to his brother even more that this is the real thing and not just a person Calvin has hired to play a practical joke by having Calvin write something for her to do on the spot. Calvin types on his old school typewriter that Ruby Sparks suddenly speaks fluent French and that is the only language she knows. As Ruby is downstairs cooking dinner, she bursts in to speaking French and doesn't realize she is doing anything out of the ordinary. Quickly, Calvin changes her language back to English and she reverts back to it.This begins the story of Ruby and Calvin. It's as if they have been together for years and they know everything about one another. Calvin only had one relationship in his life and that ended badly. So he is eager to be with someone again. Since he created Ruby, they instantly are in love and he vows to not write her life for his benefit. As time goes on though, Ruby seems more distant from Calvin, which forces him to write Ruby as always wanting to be with him at all times. This is very comical as Ruby literally cries if he gets up from the couch to get a glass of water because she will miss him. From this point, Calvin plays Ruby's puppet-master as he tries to generate a good balance between them.Calvin even drives Ruby out to his mother's house on the coast to meet her. Calvin's mother is played by Annete Bening, where she lives in an oasis of sorts with her boyfriend/lover played by the hilarious Antonio Banderas. Their house is very inviting with tons of plants and colors and art around cozy big furniture complete with an adult treehouse and large pool. This house actually belongs to Sid Krofft, the creator of 'H.R. PufnStuf'. You can only imagine how great and magical that house was. As everyone is enjoying the free-spirit vibe at this house, Calvin retreats himself to a lone bedroom to read. He does not want to have anything to do with his family. This is off putting to Ruby and we see the two grow apart. Calvin sees his creation and himself as the opposite of what he wanted.Kazan's script is excellent and very charming all the way through. There is never a dull moment, and you almost want their relationship, at least in the beginning you do. And with Dayton and Faris's direction, 'Ruby Sparks' never feels fake or manipulative. It flows easily and you develop a real relationship with the characters. This might be, because Faris and Dayton are a real life couple as well as Dano and Kazan.'Ruby Sparks' is a great little film that you won't soon forget. I'm sure you have seen similar stories to this one, but you haven't seen one this good or this charming. You'll be coming back for more with 'Ruby Sparks'.