CITIZEN RUTH
A film review by Chuck Dowling
Copyright 1997 Chuck Dowling
Citizen Ruth (1996) ** out of ***** - Cast: Laura Dern, Swoosie Kurtz, Kurtwood Smith, Mary Kay Place, Burt Reynolds, Kelly Preston, David Graf, Alicia Witt, Tippi Hedren, Diane Ladd. Written by: Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor. Directed by: Alexander Payne. Running Time: 105 minutes.
George Carlin once said that you can joke about anything. I believe that. Although it helps when the joke is funny. "Citizen Ruth" tries to poke fun at the abortion controversy raging in this country right now, and while the subject isn't exactly known for its comedic potential, it would have been possible for this film to be funny. But it's not. Mainly it comes across as awkward.
Laura Dern plays Ruth Stoops, an indigent woman who has major drug problems and has become pregnant for the fourth time. After being arrested, she faces felony charges for indangering the life of her fetus. The judge then comes to her and tells her to go and "take care" of her problem (which makes absolutely no sense based on the crime which she was charged). Eventually, organizations representing both sides of the issue are involved, and are playing a game of tug-a-war with Ruth's situation. Neither side really cares about Ruth herself, but are just using her to advance their agenda.
The character of Ruth Stoops needed to be sympathetic at some point for the audience to care about her, but it never happens. Whenever she's not trying to get high from paint or glue fumes, she's getting drunk, yelling, screaming, crying, falling down stairs, beating up young children, or punching herself in the stomach. It got to the point where the people who were exploiting her came off more favorably than she actually did.
There are just a couple of good things about the film. One is a scene involving a very perky pro-choice doctor and nurse. That scene made me laugh. The other is Burt Reynolds. I like Burt, and I'm glad to see him working. Other than that though, "Citizen Ruth" isn't very entertaining, and mostly comes off as an unpleasant viewing experience. [R]
-- Chuck Dowling Visit Chuck's Movie Reviews at http://users.southeast.net/~chuckd21/ Over 1,600 movies rated and/or reviewed! Movie news, film related links, and reader's reviews.
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