Ruby Sparks
Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: July 25, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 40 Critic Reviews
Positive:
28
Mixed:
11
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
The PlaylistKatie WalshJul 23, 2012
Ruby Sparks hits that sweet emotional spot much in the same way "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" does. While you are at once charmed by the whimsy and romance, there's still a gut punch of emotional rawness just waiting to be delivered. Read full review
91
IndieWireEric KohnJul 23, 2012
Kazan has fun with a silly premise and smartly plays it straight when the occasion calls for it, while keeping the cutesy, fantastical extremes of the material at bay. It's less fairy tale than shrewd exaggeration on the pratfalls of desire. Read full review
90
The New York TimesStephen HoldenJul 25, 2012
Ruby Sparks doesn't try to pretend to be more than it is: a sleek, beautifully written and acted romantic comedy that glides down to earth in a gently satisfying soft landing. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonAug 3, 2012
Particularly memorable are scenes in which Calvin loses his cool as Ruby holds onto her calm. It all adds up to a movie that's sparklingly entertaining. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaAug 2, 2012
It's a good thing not to know where a film is going - we need surprises, we need to be spun around a few times - and Ruby Sparks, which is about a writer and his muse, but then becomes more about the muse and her writer, is happily just such a film. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJul 24, 2012
Parts of Ruby Sparks are glowing and gentle. Others are harsh. Still others are wrenching. The transitions are expertly handled, never seeming jarring or inappropriate. If the movie feels like two shorter pieces grafted at the middle, that's an intentional decision. The filmmakers give us something approaching a traditional romantic comedy before deconstructing it. Read full review
85
MovielineAlison WillmoreJul 26, 2012
As a whole, however, Ruby Sparks lands like a punch. It's a smart counter-jab to the many movies out there that put forth the myth that the world is full of quirky angels in ballet flats who are just waiting for some morose protagonist to come along in need of their love. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanJul 25, 2012
Ruby Sparks is a romantic comedy that takes off from a premise so fanciful it needs every bit of the freshness that Dano brings it. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawOct 12, 2012
Kazan brings to the role a sweet and dignified vulnerability, keeping rigorously to plausible human behaviour. Read full review
80
EmpireDavid HughesOct 8, 2012
Six years after "Little Miss Sunshine," Dayton and Faris deliver a comedy that sparkles with wit and substance. But from the script to her portrayal of the title character, Ruby Sparks belongs to Zoe Kazan, who joins the likes of Sarah Polley and Brit Marling in the rarified ranks of actress/screenwriter double-threats. Read full review
80
Total FilmJames MottramOct 1, 2012
Smart, literate and romantic, it's this year's (500) Days Of Summer, but with a few more shadows. Like Calvin, you'll find it hard to resist Ms Sparks. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzAug 2, 2012
With a performance that is wide-ranging by necessity, Kazan makes Ruby immensely likable (as well as clingy, manic, sad, happy and whatever else Calvin wants her to be). Read full review
80
Boxoffice MagazinePete HammondJul 25, 2012
This smart and sophisticated romp takes surprising directions as it examines the creative process of writing, the delicate balance of relationships, and the mysteries of men and women. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyJul 13, 2012
A beguiling romantic fantasy about the creative process and its potential to quite literally take on a life of its own, Ruby Sparks performs an imaginative high-wire act with finesse and charm. Read full review
80
VarietyJustin ChangJul 13, 2012
There's little doubt that Kazan has written a sly, amusing portrait of male self-absorption and artistic tyranny. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorAug 2, 2012
The meta-fiction concept of characters interacting with their creator is hardly original, but it's neatly packaged here by Kazan herself, who wrote the script for this clever little charmer. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianShawn LevyAug 2, 2012
If Ruby Sparks doesn't warm you much or form a seamless whole, it's nevertheless got pieces that you can genuinely admire. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyAug 2, 2012
Much of the film is pure romantic comedy and a good one. Yet the filmmakers want it to be more. Read full review
75
NPRElla TaylorJul 27, 2012
Ruby Sparks is far from a landmark in the rickety pantheon of romantic comedy, and under the direction of Dayton and Faris it gnaws a little too hard on its magical-realist trickery. But it's great to see them help an emerging young writing talent like Kazan make her mark by by sweeping away male fantasies of pliant girls and replacing them with a desirable, flesh-and-blood woman. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversJul 26, 2012
The result is something you won't see coming. Don't look for sweet and embraceable. This movie is not afraid to show its claws. Like the spirited teamwork of Kazan and Dano, Ruby Sparks is honest, deep and true. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJul 25, 2012
A movie about the power of the imagination really becomes a movie about a certain element of surrender - about the release of power - that is practically a requirement for loving somebody. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonJul 25, 2012
The setup is rote, almost insulting, but it's smarter than it looks: Once the pieces are in place, Kazan's script reveals a deeper game. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia PuigJul 25, 2012
The fictional premise is used cleverly to illuminate the creative process and explore romantic minefields, and the appealing Ruby Sparks has a low-key, polished charm. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertJul 25, 2012
The movie's intriguing in its fanciful way, and there are times when both Calvin and Ruby seem uncannily like they're undergoing revision at the hands of some uber-writer above them both. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundJul 24, 2012
Succeeds as a satirical fantasy about writerly self-involvement, but it's worth celebrating as a testament to self-made greatness, particularly in regard to the efforts of writer/star Zoe Kazan. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyJul 25, 2012
There is a great deal of playfulness between the couple that will touch the romantic in most. Read full review
63
Washington PostAnn HornadayJul 26, 2012
For a movie so bent on skewering illusions, Ruby Sparks ultimately can't entirely let go of its own. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJul 25, 2012
The picture, intelligent but mild, has more of a 10-volt hum than a true spark. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanJul 25, 2012
It often feels as if the filmmakers expect us to be equally seduced by Ruby's wide-eyed winsomeness. That's a shame, as we can sense the deeper film beneath the surface. Because Ruby remains conceptual, this ambitious project lacks the dimension of the similarly meta-minded Charlie Kaufman projects that apparently inspired it. Read full review
60
Time OutDavid FearJul 17, 2012
Given the way the film consistently relies on the talented actor's left-of-center charms, you end up with a cake-and-eat-it-too critique: You get to acknowledge how one-dimensional the male fantasies of hot nerd-messiah chicks are while basking in exactly the same thing. Nice try. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezAug 9, 2012
The best stuff comes early in Ruby Sparks, which was written by Kazan (granddaughter of Elia) and directed by the husband and wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine). Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenAug 1, 2012
Ruby Sparks doesn't. Spark, that is. Oh, the film is sprightly and wholehearted, sweetly in thrall to its bold central conceit, and endearing as a puppy with boundless energy. You want to like it. And you do. It's just that it never, you know, it never sparks. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinJul 28, 2012
It's a great metaphor - but not a great movie. Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris direct in a drably naturalistic style, and the script is thin. Read full review
50
New York PostLou LumenickJul 27, 2012
If Ruby were more of a person than a character, we might care more for her plight. But like Calvin, Kazan has written herself into a corner that can only lead to embracing the sappy romantic clichés that Ruby Sparks tries half-heartedly to mock. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJul 26, 2012
What's good in the film, which was shot superbly by Matthew Libatique, is so good - so exuberant and touching and sweet - that you want the whole thing to be perfect, but Ruby Sparks is a closed system that gradually turns in on itself. There isn't enough of someone else. Read full review
50
SalonAndrew O'HehirJul 25, 2012
It's mediocre and half-baked, with flashes of a potential good movie showing through here and there. Read full review
50
TimeRichard CorlissJul 25, 2012
Ruby Sparks tries its damnedest to make a picture that seduces moviegoers into accepting it as their best imaginary friend forever. But the sweat shows more than the sparkle. Read full review
50
Village VoiceNick PinkertonJul 24, 2012
She (Kazan) also wrote the screenplay, which begs interpretation as a frustrated actress's commentary on the way that even ostensibly serious writers write women - that is, for maximum convenience. Still, the direction, from Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine), is never more than workmanlike. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottAug 10, 2012
Has potential to be fun and meaningful, but it's not exactly a novel idea. In fact, it feels like a literary-minded "Lars and the Real Girl," the 2007 dramatic comedy that starred Ryan Gosling as a man who falls in love with a sex doll, and which coasted along on its charm and smarts. Read full review
25
ObserverRex ReedJul 24, 2012
The script is breezy, but neither of the two leads have the heft or charm to carry an entire feature-length film - separately or together. Read full review
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