Ruby Sparks

          From the same two directors as Little Miss Sunshine comes a new rom-com about a novelist with writers' block who writes up a female character that comes to life. Basically, it's the "A World of His Own" episode of The Twilight Zone. But not good. To be fair, I didn't love The Twilight Zone episode either, but I loved the script. Therefore, despite my mild excitement, I was slightly skeptical about Ruby Sparks. Paul Dano, who played silent Dwayne in Little Miss Sunshine, did a nice job playing Calvin in this movie. Zoe Kazan, as Ruby, did an even better job, being overly expressive when called for, and a charming ditz the rest of the time. With two solid actors and two good directors, the movie should be great, right? Wrong. Perhaps it's the unoriginal story idea, or the transparent plot, but the movie just caves in on itself. The meeting-the-parents scenes felt just like Meet the Fockers, and it just was a disaster. Sometimes it seemed like the filmmakers didn't fully know the characters because they would say things that contradict your understanding of their beliefs. I know I'm probably just hammering this movie because I expected more from the makers of one of my favorite movies, Little Miss Sunshine. Ruby Sparks was just too shallow to occupy my mind. Was it satisfactory for my flight home from Paris? Sure. Would I watch it again? Probably not.