77
Metascore
25 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertRuby in Paradise is a breathtaking movie about a young woman who opens the book of her life to a fresh page, and begins to write.
- 90A wonderfully expressive character study exhibiting a thoughtfulness and concern for real life rare in American cinema, Ruby in Paradise rewards the care put into it and the patience it asks of audiences. After an eight-year layoff from filmmaking after A Flash of Green, Victor Nunez has returned with a film of gentle, intelligent qualities, vividly portraying a young woman's inner life.
- 80Chicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumChicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumThanks to a natural and highly charismatic performance by Judd, Ruby in Paradise has a graceful lyricism--as well as a complex sense of what living in today's world is like--that will stay with you; the tempo is slow and dreamy, but the flavor is rich, and it lasts.
- 80Rolling StonePeter TraversRolling StonePeter TraversNunez is a major filmmaker who thrives working in a minor key. He makes Ruby a romantic fable with a tough core of intelligence and wit. It’s a real beauty.
- 78Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenAustin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenDirector Nunez, whose previous films (Gal Young 'Un, A Flash of Green) are also set in Florida, has an ability to translate states of mind into their native environments and vice versa. In this instance, his regional realism combines with Judd's transfixing performance to create a movie that sticks to your ribs.
- 75ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliMale coming-of-age stories are a dime-a-dozen, but the same cannot be said for the female equivalent, especially when the story is told with intelligence and sensitivity. This makes Ruby in Paradise a rare and welcome change of pace.
- 70The New York TimesJanet MaslinThe New York TimesJanet MaslinRuby in Paradise is more often pensive than genuinely thoughtful, but it is helped immensely by Ms. Judd's gravity and strength.
- 58Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment WeeklyUltimately, though, it’s the film that’s tentative-and more than a little plodding. Instead of following through on the relationships, Nunez allows Ruby in Paradise to get bogged down in his heroine’s economic woes. The film ends up being about whether she’ll land on her feet, when what we really want to see is whether she can stand tall.
- 40Time OutTime OutYou know there's truth in these drab small-town lives, but, regrettably, there's little drama or humour to sustain interest in Ruby's vague musings on her bleak search for paradise.