A bidding war erupted between studios at Sundance. Arndt won an Academy Award. The flick became a modern classic. The pair’s latest contains elegant cinematography and tastefully stylised production design but is bogged down in tropes.

 

When the protagonist of Calvin’s (Paul Dano) new novel, Ruby (Zoe Kazan), turns up in his kitchen one morning, flesh and blood, the author realizes that she is no longer a figment of his imagination. She is a real life girlfriend whom he has created and wields power over. All it takes is a few keystrokes on his typewriter.

 

Sound like Marc Forster’s Stranger Than Fiction? The resemblance is uncanny. An already unoriginal feature descends into cliché, echoing the ‘be careful what you wish for’ platitude – the last possible avenue that should have been considered. Scriptwriter Kazan is mostly to blame.

 

She has successfully created the twee archetype we all love to hate: ginger hair, chubby cheeks and excessive daintiness – Zooey Deschanel, anyone? And don’t even get me started on the 1970s Belgian punk rock (Plastic Bertrand, no less) and the hackneyed nods to the French New Wave.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unsurprisingly, Paul Dano delivers. One of the finest young actors of his generation and Kazan’s boyfriend in real life, he breathes life into an otherwise stale, predictable screenplay.

 

Still, a mediocre script is the biggest possible hindrance to any picture; if you begin with mediocrity, you’ll probably end up with it too.

 

Don’t bother.

 

 

 

 

Stars - ★★

 

 

By Rehan Alexander Mudannayake