That was an excellent one.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Alexander Payne, from personal opinion, is a very talented director and writer. With the exception of his recent film 'Downsizing' (his most ambitious film with such a great concept but underwhelming in execution), all his films range from very good to outstanding, especially 'Sideways'. 'Citizen Ruth' was his first full-length film, and while not his best or one of them (perhaps his second or third weakest, 'The Descendants' while still very good is also a lesser effort) there is a lot to admire. 'Citizen Ruth' may lack the viciousness and poignancy of his later and particularly best work, when Payne had properly found his feet and fine-tuned his style, hence why it is not rated as highly as much as them, but his talent for directing and writing for so early on is very much evident.The film is notable for handling a very difficult subject matter (abortion), but uniquely not taking sides and shows both sides of the argument rather than making a judgement on whether it's good or bad. This was a very brave and daring decision and attitude to take, and one that those who have been through it themselves in particular will appreciate and relate with, there is nothing to be offended by.Even with this difficult and sensitive subject, 'Citizen Ruth' manages to be entertaining in a darkly amusing way but doing it tastefully and taking it seriously still. In typical Payne style, it is also very thought-provoking and honest with plenty to say and saying it with tact.Payne directs with skill, even if his direction became more refined later. 'Citizen Ruth' is very nicely filmed, if not one of his most visually beautiful or striking films ('Sideways', 'The Descendants' and especially 'Nebraska' fit this distinction more). The story is compelling and balanced, if not always sharp in pacing in the latter stages.Similarly, Payne gets the best out of his actors. The whole cast are top notch, but this is sensational Laura Dern's, in one of her best and boldest performances, film.Overall, hugely impressive and brave. 8/10 Bethany Cox

I have to applaud this movie for being so neutral on the issue and showing us the hypocrisy and the cheap tricks and the inner contradictions present on both sides of the issue.Being what I call "a sane pro-lifer in pursuit of a consistent body of bioethics", at first I was somewhat upset by the fact that the movie only portrayed the two prevailing opposite camps regarding the issue of abortion, with presumably atheist lesbians (who, of course, turn out to be goddess adoring pseudo-pagans) with their snobby and self-righteous rhetoric about freedom to choose all the while they try to control Ruth's body on the one hand, and the apparently prudish, sexually repressed, and oh, of course, hypocritical born-again Christians on the other. But then I figured, even though Ruth was the not so intelligent, politically incorrect, irresponsible, glue-huffing character who didn't seem to have any self-declared ethical concern for the issue, it was really through her naive outbursts that the movie seemed to point to a need for a more honest and human approach. What I loved the most, however, was the end scene where Ruth escaped the abortion clinic with all the money in the bag and no one even noticed. It really summed up the whole point of the movie for me - that no one really saw her - not just then, not ever at all. Everyone was so caught up in their own hysteria that it had never been about Ruth at all. You won't get bored with this movie. It's funny, it's honest, and the pace is consistent throughout.

I have seen Laura Dern in a few movies, but none that really showed her ability as this one.The was an outrageously funny abortion satire and she really shined as the huffer that gets pregnant and is the pawn of both sides in the fight over a fetus. Both sides - pro-choice and anti-abortion - were made fun of in this film. They were people that you would really not want to know.Mary Kay Place is a "Baby Saver" that hasn't got a clue. Her daughter is sneaking out at night, and her "righteous" husband is just a letch. She takes in Ruth (Dern) and gets her to those so-called counseling centers so they can work her over. Swoosie Kurtz rescues her, but Ruth soon finds that the other side is just as bad. The druggie and unfit mother soon scams them all in a very satisfactory ending.Dern plays a perfect white-trash Barbie that is out for herself. She really gives a great performance as she switches from booze to bathroom-cleaning fluid, and back to booze. Ruth is just out for Ruth and she manages to take care of herself. She sees money as a solution to all her problems, and Dern plays up her ignorance in a manner that is well worth watching.Burt Reynolds and Tippi Hedren play the national leaders on both sides of the abortion war. It really doesn't matter which side you are one, but you will definitely be pro-Laura Dern after seeing this.

I loved this movie, a sly satire about a beautiful but dim-witted drifter who gets pregnant and finds herself accidentally scooped up as symbol by both sides in the abortion controversy. Laura Dern makes Ruth an irresistible anti-heroine, not only sexy and fun but poignant and lonely and even lovable by the very end.At first, with Ruth in rags and in tears, the movie is not much fun. It's a bit like TRAINSPOTTING, about a drug addict living on the street. But Laura Dern's Ruth is not a smug smart-aleck like Renton. She doesn't keep telling us she's cool or hip or better than us. She just lives her life, and we see how helpless and in need of rescue she really is. Where the film picks up steam is where we see how corrupt and hypocritical her "rescuers" really are.The script really points out that all political activists are users at heart. Just like A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, where the teenage hoodlum Alex is first brainwashed by the state and then "rescued" by radicals who snuff him out at the first opportunity, so here Ruth is pushed back and forth by Christians and feminists who show equal disregard for her thoughts and feelings. The fact that she herself is lazy, weak-willed, incurably dishonest, and deeply selfish, only adds to the fun. Ruth's need for pleasure and escape makes her a natural to become a drug addict, which of course she is. But it's also noticeable that she plunges headlong into each passing pleasure that comes her way. Watching her snore in blissful contentment in her first real bed in months, or howl with pleasure during a sexy feminist foot massage, you can't help but enjoy her zest for life. Ruth may be weak-willed and timid, but at least she has her human pleasures. The people around her are fanatical robots.At the same time, Ruth's story goes beyond A CLOCKWORK ORANGE into a much more American story of a loner who must choose sides in what really amounts to a civil war. The film brilliantly captures how abortion tears the town in half, just like slavery in the pre Civil War years. Ruth is caught in the middle, just like Tobey Maguire's Jake Roedel in Ang Lee's RIDE WITH THE DEVIL. The difference is that Ruth finds a way to fight on her own terms. By the end she's no longer a puppet, and you feel oddly impressed by her final get away and almost slapstick escape.(SPOILER ALERT) This is one of the few movies I have ever seen where the "take the money and run" ending really feels like a triumph. Note that this is EXACTLY what happens in TRAINSPOTTING. While the straight people make fools of themselves, a junkie walks away with a bundle of cash. But here it feels totally liberating, and fun. With Renton it was spoiled with his tiresome monologue, bragging about how he's "just like us." No, Ruth is just like us. She's not always able to say what she feels, but she has human needs and she learns from her mistakes.CITIZEN RUTH is a great movie, and a real triumph for Laura Dern.