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
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
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