WEBVTT - Ruby Sparks with Jesse David Fox 0:00:00.960 --> 0:00:04.040 On the Bechdecast. The questions asked if movies have. 0:00:04.120 --> 0:00:07.960 Women and them, are all their discussions just boyfriends and husbands, 0:00:08.039 --> 0:00:11.879 or do they have individualism? It's the patriarchy, f and 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:15.320 bast start changing it with the Bechdel cast. 0:00:16.120 --> 0:00:20.360 Hey Jamie, Hey Caitlyn, I have a secret what. I 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:24.479 wrote a story about a character named Jamie Loftus, and 0:00:24.520 --> 0:00:28.280 then we were like hosting a podcast together in my story. 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:29.600 And then suddenly. 0:00:29.360 --> 0:00:37.040 Bur Bonour, wow you're feel Wait Jesse, can you see Jamie? 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:39.559 Oh wow your homage? 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:47.560 She shut them Kitleen, Oh shit them you too, bark 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:48.960 bark anyway. 0:00:49.040 --> 0:00:52.960 Hi. Wow. I panics because I was like, I know 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:54.920 the bit I want to do, but I don't have 0:00:55.000 --> 0:01:00.600 the skills. I can't. I'm ill equipped, but I wrote 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:02.279 and fringe we. 0:01:03.760 --> 0:01:06.440 Anyway, Hi, this is the Bechdel Test. My name is 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:07.520 Caitlin Dorante, my. 0:01:07.520 --> 0:01:11.640 Name is Jamie Loftus, and I'm controlled by Caitlyn Dorante. 0:01:12.000 --> 0:01:13.360 Mmm, sorry about it. 0:01:13.480 --> 0:01:17.120 I frequently find that everything in my life changes. I 0:01:17.200 --> 0:01:20.160 have friends, I lose them. I'm on all fours, barking 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:22.640 like a dog. I'm calling Caitlyn a genius non stop. 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:23.800 Yeah, thank you. 0:01:23.920 --> 0:01:27.760 It's honestly kind of an incredible way to live. You know, 0:01:27.880 --> 0:01:32.240 the surrender of free will has its drawbacks, but you 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:35.400 know she does let me go to sleep. Sometimes You're welcome. 0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:36.960 Thank you. 0:01:36.959 --> 0:01:42.520 You're a genius, yes, I know. Anyway, this is our 0:01:42.560 --> 0:01:46.960 show where we examine movies through an intersectional feminist lens, 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:51.400 using the Bechdel Test simply as a jumping off point. 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:54.440 But Jamie, my creation, what is it? 0:01:54.960 --> 0:01:59.480 Well? The Bechdel Test is a media metric created originally 0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:03.680 by queer cartoonist Alison Bechdel, often called the Bechdel Wallace Test. 0:02:04.080 --> 0:02:07.320 A lot of versions of the test. The version we 0:02:07.480 --> 0:02:11.160 use is this one. We require that there be two 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:14.600 characters of a marginalized gender with names talking to each 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:17.560 other about something other than a man for more than 0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:21.200 two lines of dialogue in some sort of meaningful way. 0:02:21.880 --> 0:02:25.040 Can't really be more specific than that you know it 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:30.239 when you see it. So those are sort of our requirements. God, 0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:33.120 this is like such an interesting movie to talk about 0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:35.520 in regards to the Bechdel Test, because I feel like 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:40.600 this movie came out in a stretch of time where 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:43.920 the Bechdel Test was also frequently discussed, often in a 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:47.320 way that I feel like it is no longer discussed 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:50.160 now in a good way. I'm excited to talk about 0:02:50.160 --> 0:02:52.320 this movie same And we have a returning guest. 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:57.359 We sure do. Our guest is the senior editor at Vulture. 0:02:57.520 --> 0:03:01.160 He's the host of Good One podcast, and his book, 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:05.920 entitled comedy Book Boom, is out on November seventh. It's 0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:07.080 Jesse David Fox. 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:08.200 Welcome back. Hello. 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:09.400 I was trying to think it if I know any 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:13.200 words in French, and I don't. That's the word. 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:16.360 And a happy bonjor to you and happy book. Congratulations 0:03:16.360 --> 0:03:16.800 on the book. 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:19.080 Oh, thank you so much. Congratulations on your book. 0:03:19.200 --> 0:03:20.520 Thank you. I was baiting you. 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:24.280 I made Jamie write that book. Isn't that a congratulation. 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:27.359 You wrote every word for her to sit down to. 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:30.200 Type to rewrite. Yes, You're welcome again. 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:32.640 Mister Haitlin did not want to eat a hot dog, 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:36.680 and so they went really like four dy chest to 0:03:36.800 --> 0:03:40.360 find a way to get the book written. Welcome back. 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:42.839 I realized as we were preparing for this episode, because 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:47.480 we're covering Ruby Sparks twenty twelve, that on your first 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:51.080 episode we also kind of did not a similar plot, 0:03:51.120 --> 0:03:53.560 but we did her with you years and years ago, 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:56.920 and it's yet another movie about a. 0:03:56.840 --> 0:04:01.240 Man that a writer creating a contra that he can 0:04:01.280 --> 0:04:04.640 control as a way of getting over an ex girlfriend 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:07.160 that also was a failure because he tried to control 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:07.960 that relationship. 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:10.480 Yeah. Yeah, Like he's the sort of guy I mean, 0:04:10.520 --> 0:04:13.080 I guess that they're still out there. I've met them. 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:16.719 They're still around. They're kind of an unkillable mutant species. 0:04:17.000 --> 0:04:20.120 But it is interesting that these two movies. Yeah, they're 0:04:20.360 --> 0:04:22.840 a guy that's like, I couldn't be a bad person. 0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:24.280 I'm shy you. 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:30.599 It was the cultural zenith of that guy as hero 0:04:31.160 --> 0:04:36.480 that's shorthand for somewhat redeemable because it's this type of guy. Now, 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:38.880 this movie, I think, not to get ahead of it, 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:41.760 I'm trying to remember if this watching this movie helped 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:44.599 me get over that part of myself that also thought 0:04:44.600 --> 0:04:47.280 that about like me that was like, well, I'm quiet, 0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:50.360 so I guess I'm nice. Or did this movie reinforce 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:52.120 that feeling in me. 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:54.720 I'm really excited to talk to you about that because 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:57.040 this movie is now eleven years old, and it's like 0:04:57.440 --> 0:05:00.599 we would have covered this movie very differently when this 0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:02.640 show started seven years ago. 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:04.800 Yeah, for sure, and by. 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:10.919 Differently, I mean worse because you grow in all that stuff. 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:12.880 I'm so excited to talk about this movie. I was 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:17.400 pleasantly surprised by how much it broke my brain. But Jesse, 0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:20.480 what is your history with this film? 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:22.919 I didn't see it in theaters, but I do believe 0:05:22.920 --> 0:05:27.000 I saw it soon after, but I can't totally remember when. 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:30.400 But I do feel like this type of movie like Fox, Searchlight, 0:05:31.200 --> 0:05:35.239 rom Com Adjacent or whatever, was like my favorite type 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:38.440 of movie, like Zoe Cazant's starring. 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:42.480 Movies directors of Little Miss Sunshine. You're like, yes, I'm listening. 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:43.040 I'm listening. 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:47.039 Yes, all of this was like exactly my aesthetics. So 0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:49.080 I know I saw it. I assume like once it 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:51.720 was on was streaming around that. I don't know how 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:53.640 I saw it, but I know I saw it and then. 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:57.000 On demand or something disgusting. 0:05:56.600 --> 0:05:59.240 And then I was like, I had a memory of 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:03.560 this discourse around this and Zoe's sort of relationship to 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:07.040 the termatic Pixie dream Girl. I remember reading an interview 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:09.400 she said X and then I realized, oh, that was 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:11.600 that interview I did with her where I asked her 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:14.520 about like, now, how she feels because the creator of 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:17.880 the termatic Pixie dream Girl regretted it, and then she 0:06:18.080 --> 0:06:20.600 was sort of the champion of how maybe the term, 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:25.560 unlike the Bechdel test, was sort of like sloppily applied 0:06:25.720 --> 0:06:26.279 at the time. 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:30.839 Yes, and that's like I totally agree. I mean, you 0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:33.880 can't tell someone how to, you know, deal with their 0:06:33.920 --> 0:06:37.600 own word that they made popular, and like Nathan Raven 0:06:37.680 --> 0:06:40.520 is amazing, But it did feel like retracting it entirely 0:06:40.600 --> 0:06:43.840 was an overcorrection. It was just like, no, it's a thing, 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:47.239 but just like not in every single case that someone 0:06:47.400 --> 0:06:49.560 says it is right, yes, right. 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:55.280 It became a way to fairly quickly disregard female performances 0:06:55.279 --> 0:07:00.000 and female characters so much so then if you then reject, 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:02.279 you're like, well then are we Then we forgot The 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:04.839 first point was to criticize a type of female character 0:07:04.880 --> 0:07:08.839 that this movie also was trying to criticize exactly. And 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:11.920 then now we're back to partly the aesthetics of this 0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:14.760 character doesn't exist in the same way anymore, because like 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:17.360 it was so associated with like certain types of haircuts 0:07:17.360 --> 0:07:18.040 and clothes. 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:21.560 My minit right, she's got the bangs, she's got the 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:24.680 little cap sleeve dresses and you're like, yep, yep, we 0:07:24.680 --> 0:07:25.560 were there, we saw it. 0:07:25.960 --> 0:07:29.080 Yeah, So because for your people have bangs, I don't know, 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:33.960 like I don't know gen Z's relationship to this idea. Yeah, 0:07:34.000 --> 0:07:35.920 and it seems like it, if anything, it has like 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:39.080 it's right for a resurgence, right. It is like not 0:07:39.320 --> 0:07:42.720 so removed from like girl Dinner or whatever. 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:45.880 Right. I think that this can like exist in conversation 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:49.120 with I don't know what, like whatever every generation things 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:52.280 that they've solved things and reinvented the wheel, and they 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:54.360 never have and they never will. And that's just sort 0:07:54.400 --> 0:07:57.600 of my view on the state of things. And yeah, 0:07:57.640 --> 0:08:00.400 it's like gen Z has their version of these too. 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:03.160 That will also be embarrassing to look back on ten 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:07.040 years from now. I was thinking of Girl Dinner, Girl 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:10.120 Math Girl, which is like something that I've sort of 0:08:10.280 --> 0:08:13.760 let fly at different points as well. When there's that 0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:16.680 Christmas in a line of like you haven't written a woman, 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:18.800 You've written a girl, And I'm like, and what do 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:20.600 you mean by what you know? 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:21.600 What are you saying? 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:25.320 What side do you then take by saying that I 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:26.480 am Switzerland. 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:29.400 I think let the girls do what they want. Let 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:30.440 the girls do what they want. 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:33.880 That character makes some like very good points, and then 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:36.280 he makes some very bad points throughout the movie. He's 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:37.480 very inconsistent. 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:40.440 I mean, but that's kind of what I appreciated about him. 0:08:40.440 --> 0:08:42.680 I'm like, that seems like a guy that exists in 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:44.840 the world where he's like, I love my wife so much, 0:08:45.600 --> 0:08:47.440 but I would change her if I could. 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:51.640 And you're like, yeah, he is a similar you know, 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:54.199 insomuch as this movie's in conversation with like five hundred 0:08:54.240 --> 0:08:57.200 Days of Summer. He like is very much in the 0:08:57.200 --> 0:08:59.839 same ilk as like the DOOTI Er the more do 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:04.120 characters of that movie. Yeah, he was like this version 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:08.440 in that movie. They're both browier than the lead, but 0:09:08.600 --> 0:09:11.160 also like the conscience of the movie because in that 0:09:11.240 --> 0:09:13.800 movie is like I would give my wife bigger tits 0:09:13.800 --> 0:09:16.600 if I could, but in retrospect it wouldn't change anything, right. 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:21.880 But I love that broad Yeah, the chad conscience of 0:09:22.040 --> 0:09:22.600 the film. 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:25.600 So it is interesting to be like, is everything this 0:09:25.679 --> 0:09:30.760 character says ultimately the person we should be supporting there is? Yeah, 0:09:30.800 --> 0:09:35.280 because that line is the like philosophical thesis I guess 0:09:35.320 --> 0:09:36.120 of the movie. 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:39.319 I mean, yeah, way more so than anything Calvin e 0:09:39.400 --> 0:09:43.320 versus or for sure, I didn't make that connection. I also, 0:09:43.440 --> 0:09:46.880 I mean, this movie feels very much a cousin to 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:50.000 five hundred Days of Summer. I haven't seen five hundred 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:54.920 Days of Summer recently. Yeah, I mean I haven't really 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:57.120 revisited it. But I was at Ikea with a man 0:09:57.120 --> 0:10:00.240 recently and was like, wow, is something bad about to 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:00.760 happen to me? 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:02.840 Did you run around? 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:09.840 No, very intentionally stayed stills of behavior. I tried to 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:13.040 really stay as still as possible and really like stay 0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:15.480 the path and get the plates I had come there for. 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:19.400 Another similarity that this movie had with five Hundred Days 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:21.959 the Summer is that I hate the last scene. 0:10:22.440 --> 0:10:24.800 Yes, sure, very similar last seed? 0:10:25.160 --> 0:10:25.360 Yeah? 0:10:25.600 --> 0:10:27.000 Similar? Yes. 0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:27.480 Oh. 0:10:27.600 --> 0:10:29.200 I can't wait to talk about the ending of this 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:33.000 movie and the rest of it. All right, James, what 0:10:33.720 --> 0:10:35.880 is your relationship with this movie? 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:38.520 Ruby Sparks, I had not seen this movie, and I 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:41.200 didn't know a lot about it. I think that we 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:44.520 were all there in the twenty tens Manic Pixie dream 0:10:44.600 --> 0:10:48.960 Girl mess of attempt to have a conversation, you know, 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:51.280 which we were a part of, and like, I just 0:10:51.320 --> 0:10:54.160 never got to this movie because based off of like 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:57.040 what I was catching from this conversation, it seemed like 0:10:57.880 --> 0:10:59.640 to me it was framed as a movie that was 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:04.920 purpose trading these tropes as opposed to criticizing and interacting 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:08.120 with them. And I think that that just like stuck 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:10.920 in my head. And also, to be fair, the marketing 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:13.320 does not really do much to change your mind. I 0:11:13.360 --> 0:11:15.480 went back and watched the trailer as well as the 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:18.880 original reviews of this movie, which I'm like, Zoe Cazan 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:21.600 kind of a playing a game of forty chess there, 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:24.520 because it's like everyone received this as like a quirky 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:27.839 what was the god? The Atlantic review Ruby sparks a 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:30.920 charming tale of boy makes girl, and You're like, uh 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:33.800 huh uh huh uh huh did they see the scene 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:36.000 where he made her bark like a dog and call 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:39.800 him a genius? Apparently they didn't. But yeah, I had 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:42.200 avoided this movie because I thought it was a perpetrator 0:11:42.240 --> 0:11:47.200 and not a and I was really pleasantly surprised by 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:49.440 this movie. I really enjoyed it. I mean there's stuff 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:52.120 about it that I would just love a rundown of 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:54.960 what the studio notes were for this movie, because I 0:11:55.040 --> 0:11:58.400 feel like that last scene doesn't feel consistent with what 0:11:58.720 --> 0:12:03.360 is happening even minutes before. And I think Zoe Czanne 0:12:03.400 --> 0:12:05.280 is a terrific writer, and so I'm like, I just 0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:08.360 don't think she would do that. But there's a lot 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:10.400 of cool stuff in this movie that I feel like 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:14.640 I haven't seen done quite this well in other places. 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:17.520 I liked it, Caitlin, What's your History? 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:20.800 I also had never seen it, and I think I 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:23.679 had a very similar experience as you, Jamie, as far 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:26.920 as like people would talk about it all the time 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:33.640 in a pretty critical way, and either I misunderstood what 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:38.160 they were criticizing, or the people who were criticizing it 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:42.080 misunderstood what the movie was. Either way, I also thought 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:46.560 it was like, Wow, a classic example of a manic 0:12:46.600 --> 0:12:51.640 pixie dream girl presented uncritically, and isn't that awesome? And 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:54.120 so I also was just like, I don't really feel 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:56.880 compelled to watch this, or again, I might have been 0:12:56.880 --> 0:13:00.640 misunderstanding what people were saying about it. Way, I'd never 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:02.560 seen it, and so when I was watching it, I 0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:05.079 was like, wait a minute, the things I thought about 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:08.520 this movie don't seem to be the things that are 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:13.120 actually here in this movie. So I found it refreshing. 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:17.880 In some ways, I found it challenging, Like I was like, wow, 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:20.960 what hang on? And I think I'm going to like 0:13:21.040 --> 0:13:24.040 be processing a lot of my thoughts about this movie 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:27.800 in real time on this episode. But I was pleasantly 0:13:27.840 --> 0:13:31.400 surprised by it, especially going in with like pretty low 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:34.200 expectations based on the buzz. 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:36.640 I do feel like if the ending was fused with 0:13:36.720 --> 0:13:39.480 a bit it would like do really well coming out 0:13:39.559 --> 0:13:42.040 right now. And also if the outfits were better. 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:43.920 Well, I think they were good for the time. 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:45.959 At the time, they were incredible. 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:49.680 Well honestly, that is like truly the most dating part 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:51.640 of my life. So literally every single person I dated 0:13:51.720 --> 0:13:53.880 for like seven years stress like that. So I'm like, 0:13:54.480 --> 0:13:57.520 that's the feminine ideal of like what I imagine people 0:13:57.520 --> 0:13:59.599 should dress like, So I don't have a problem. He 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:03.959 dressed terribly. He dressed also only in a tan and green. 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:06.640 It was like such a clear director. 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:08.480 Stoy is he Shaggy from Scooby Doo. 0:14:08.640 --> 0:14:12.160 He was serving Shaggy the whole movie, including on the poster. 0:14:12.960 --> 0:14:15.760 But I do think the ending is even two years 0:14:15.840 --> 0:14:18.920 later or whenever, like inside Eama, Shumer became the most 0:14:18.920 --> 0:14:22.720 popular show on television. The studio notes would be like end. 0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:25.400 It's the exact opposite way, like we want this to 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:27.960 be the most heavy handed ending possible. 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:31.280 Yeah, he would get hit by a eighteen wheel yeer 0:14:31.840 --> 0:14:33.040 a couple of years later. 0:14:34.880 --> 0:14:35.640 Yeah. 0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:38.600 This movie, I will say, proves a theory that I 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:41.960 was recently revisiting, or at least Zoe Cuzam feels the 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:45.160 same way because it is fiction. But that the moment 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:50.200 someone becomes famous, they stop maturing forever, or at least 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:54.680 stop maturing in some ways forever. Yeah, and that's Calvin 0:14:54.680 --> 0:14:58.240 to the core. He's behaving so nineteen, this entire movie 0:14:58.280 --> 0:14:59.640 in spite of being thirty. 0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:03.280 Yeah, shall I do the recap and then we'll go 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:03.760 from there. 0:15:04.240 --> 0:15:04.960 Let's recap. 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:07.320 Oh wait, let's take a break first, and then we'll 0:15:07.360 --> 0:15:07.840 come back. 0:15:19.680 --> 0:15:20.400 And we're back. 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:26.520 Okay, here is the recap. We open on a silhouetted 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:31.360 image of a woman being like, there you are. I've 0:15:31.400 --> 0:15:36.120 been looking for you, tee. What why are you looking 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:36.800 at me like that? 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:41.720 Zoe zan is he he hahi on the storm, Yes, 0:15:41.920 --> 0:15:45.720 I love it, And then Calvin Weirfields wakes up. 0:15:45.960 --> 0:15:49.600 That's Paul Dano. He was having a dream about this woman. 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:55.080 Calvin is a writer who ten years ago wrote an 0:15:55.080 --> 0:15:59.600 acclaimed novel when he was only nineteen, but he since 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:02.160 has not been able to write much of anything. 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:04.040 I found these scenes triggering. 0:16:05.040 --> 0:16:09.280 I was like, relatable much. We see him, like, you know, 0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:13.000 sitting down trying to write, but his writer's block is 0:16:13.080 --> 0:16:17.680 very intense, so we see him instead hanging out with 0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:22.320 his dog, Scottie. He hangs out with his brother Harry 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:27.800 played by Chrismasina. Awesome baffling. How in what world are 0:16:27.840 --> 0:16:28.840 they brothers. 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:32.160 And grew up seemingly in California despite he seems so 0:16:32.240 --> 0:16:34.360 Midwestern and him the most New york Man. 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:40.240 Right. I've also read in like the original press tour, 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:44.400 like both Paul Dana and Christmasina were like, We're aware 0:16:44.440 --> 0:16:51.320 we look nothing alike, but we enjoyed it. You're like, okay, okay, okay, boys. 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:55.840 So Calvin seems to not have much in the way 0:16:55.880 --> 0:16:59.040 of friends. He seems to struggle to meet and connect 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:05.240 with people. He goes to a therapist, Elliott Gold. His 0:17:05.320 --> 0:17:08.240 name is doctor Rosenthal or something, but Elliott Gold is 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:12.280 his therapist. He gives Calvin a little writing assignment to 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:16.399 try to help him to start writing again, and the 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:21.320 assignment is to write a page where someone meets Calvin's dog, 0:17:21.520 --> 0:17:25.360 Scottie and likes the dog for who he is, despite 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:30.639 him being skittish and slobbery. Then that night, Calvin has 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:33.640 a dream about the same woman who we will come 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:35.080 to know as Ruby Sparks. 0:17:35.359 --> 0:17:38.520 I think their writing in this scene is so good 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:41.439 because she's just like challenging him in such a movie 0:17:41.480 --> 0:17:46.320 way where I watched this movie back to back twice 0:17:46.880 --> 0:17:50.080 and watching that scene go back, where it's like I 0:17:50.080 --> 0:17:52.840 would have loved that exchange when I was in high school. 0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:54.840 I'm like, Wow, she's not like other girls. She's really 0:17:55.119 --> 0:17:59.119 like given him, like she's a handful. But when you 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:02.800 watch that scene back, like she's challenging him in the 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:05.720 safest way possible, Like she's only ever allowed to challenge 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:08.480 him in a way that is safe for him. 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:11.880 Also, she's not like other girls. She doesn't know who 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:13.320 f Scott Fitzgerald is. 0:18:13.800 --> 0:18:17.400 Yeah, and he gets to tell her for how acclaimed 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:20.399 of an author is. The books around this movie are 0:18:20.440 --> 0:18:23.600 so they are like a teenager's collection of books. 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:27.359 Catcher in the Rye, Great Gats be like the stuff 0:18:27.400 --> 0:18:30.560 that you read because you're supposed you like are required 0:18:30.600 --> 0:18:31.640 to in high school. 0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:37.760 Yeah, it really felt like James Franco novelist era unfortunately. 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:38.360 Which is also this time. 0:18:38.440 --> 0:18:39.640 Yeah, yeah, it's true. 0:18:41.920 --> 0:18:47.480 Anyway, So this dream woman meets and likes Scottie the Dog, 0:18:47.960 --> 0:18:51.400 and then Calvin wakes up from this dream suddenly very 0:18:51.440 --> 0:18:55.720 inspired by the woman, and he starts writing page after 0:18:55.840 --> 0:19:01.200 page about Ruby Sparks. He has his brother Harry read 0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:05.840 what he's written of this manuscript so far, and Harry 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:10.200 basically tells him that Calvin does not understand women, and 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:14.359 that he's like written a very like tropy manic pixie 0:19:14.480 --> 0:19:17.320 dreamgirl type and that no one is going to want 0:19:17.359 --> 0:19:17.919 to read this. 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:22.960 This Chad is a literary critic. He is absolutely killing 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:25.479 it in this scene. We'll get back to how his 0:19:25.480 --> 0:19:27.960 wife is treated, because we are told a lot about her, 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:31.080 even though we see her one time and she's like, 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:34.440 why is this bra here? You're like, good job movie. 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:37.560 So he's a sports agent but able to like read 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:41.560 and digest a short story in like a dinner with 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:42.040 his brother. 0:19:42.200 --> 0:19:45.760 I really, I actually really liked that choice. I like 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:49.080 that it is not challenged. They're like, yeah, he's a 0:19:49.080 --> 0:19:51.520 bit of a reader when he's not managing sports? 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:55.880 Is it a It's also like they let the how 0:19:55.920 --> 0:19:58.160 you code the actors in your brain do so much 0:19:58.160 --> 0:20:00.359 work of filling out who these people are, Like, well, 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:01.800 he's a Christmas an a type, so obviously he's a 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:04.080 sport agent. You won't realize that until like way later 0:20:04.160 --> 0:20:05.080 in the movie. 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:09.719 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Okay. 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:15.600 So, despite his brother's criticism, Calvin continues to fantasize about 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:21.200 and write about Ruby, writing this story where she and 0:20:21.359 --> 0:20:24.280 a guy very much like himself down to like that 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:28.159 character also being named Calvin, being so in love with 0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:33.040 each other. One day, as he is about to leave 0:20:33.119 --> 0:20:37.800 home for a meeting, a woman is suddenly in Calvin's kitchen, 0:20:38.000 --> 0:20:42.240 and this woman is Ruby Sparks, played by Zoe Kazan. 0:20:42.600 --> 0:20:50.320 Ruby. Ruby what her most recent episode, I already brought 0:20:50.400 --> 0:20:52.720 up Shaggy. This is what I bring to the show. 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:57.160 I mean, well, Shaggy the dog more like Scottie the dog, 0:20:57.359 --> 0:20:59.440 who I think is the best character in the movie 0:20:59.480 --> 0:21:02.520 because he pisses on Calvin's bed and that makes him 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:03.879 mask who he is. 0:21:04.800 --> 0:21:07.680 Do you think that was inspired by Calvin and Hobbes 0:21:07.760 --> 0:21:10.560 or they guess the image of Oh no, I guess Calvin. 0:21:11.000 --> 0:21:12.480 Calvin is the one that peeces though. 0:21:13.720 --> 0:21:18.959 Oh, because Calvin and Hobbes, Hobbes and Shaw. Anyway, think 0:21:19.040 --> 0:21:20.120 about it, you know. 0:21:20.359 --> 0:21:23.960 Scotti and Calvin, we got there, Scotty and Calvin exactly. 0:21:23.960 --> 0:21:27.399 The three most iconic duos of the last thirty years. 0:21:27.680 --> 0:21:29.560 Yes, yes, it's all making sense. 0:21:30.240 --> 0:21:34.439 Okay. So Ruby Sparks is in Calvin's kitchen and she 0:21:34.520 --> 0:21:38.240 appears to be a real life person who does not 0:21:38.320 --> 0:21:42.120 realize she is a figment of Calvin's imagination that has 0:21:42.680 --> 0:21:46.080 magically materialized, and he will not tell her that for 0:21:46.119 --> 0:21:50.480 a long time. Anyway, Calvin, he's freaking out. He thinks 0:21:50.480 --> 0:21:53.760