Review of Reviews: Citizen Ruth

by Josh Likens

Citizen Ruth is a comedy that starred Laura Dern, and was the first feature-length film directed by Alexander Payne, who would later go on to direct films such as Election (1999) and Nebraska (2013). The film follows a troubled and irresponsible woman, who becomes pregnant and finds herself caught in the center of a debate about abortion, during which she notices the absurdities of both of the opposing sides. The movie opened on December 13, 1996, and despite mostly positive critical reception, it unfortunately ended up flopping at the box office.

The critical response to Citizen Ruth was generally positive, currently standing at an 80% critic’s score and a 74% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, as well as a 7 out of 10 on IMDB. The film’s reviews regard it for having an inventive approach to satirical comedy, held up by its strong performances. In a review by James Berardinelli, published around the time of the film’s release, he remarks that Laura Dern gives an extremely great performance. However, Berardinelli points out, “In an odd way, the strength of Dern’s acting could almost be seen as detrimental to the film. If Ruth wasn’t this believable, the most over-the-top aspects of the satire wouldn’t feel as overbearing.” Besides this, his review regards the film very positively, resulting in his rating of 3 out of 4 stars.

Another positive review comes from esteemed film critic Roger Ebert, who also gave the film a 3 out of 4 star rating. In his review, Ebert focuses on Payne’s abilities as a director, and how he manages to blend negative characters and clever satire, resulting in a very effective comedy. He does touch upon some of the film’s flaws, stating, “There is a point at which this all perhaps grows a little thin; we yearn for someone to cheer for, instead of against.” Yet Ebert still regards that it was courageous to portray Ruth as unredeemable, noting that this creates a very unique experience for the audience, by illustrating a conflict that feels complex in its absence of a “good side” or “bad side”.

Despite much positive critical reception, there were still some negative responses to the film. Critic Jonathan Rosenbaum regarded the film as being “irreverent” and “politically incorrect”. Rosenbaum also states that he was “offended” by Laura Dern’s performance, claiming, “it reeks of class condescension” like many of the other things in the movie. With the negative reviews such as this, and a review from Christopher Null which calls out Dern’s performance as being “gratingly offensive”, it’s apparent that much of the negative backlash that this film received was generally a result of the touchy subject matter, which obviously left some audience members offended. It was inevitable that releasing a satirical comedy about abortion would be bound to offend people, which makes Citizen Ruth’s lack of commercial success all the more unsurprising.

The film was produced with a budget of 3 million, and finished its theatrical run with a disappointingly low domestic gross of $285, 112. According to Box Office Mojo, it also made just $26,709 during its opening weekend, and was only released in 23 theaters across the United States. But it was unlikely that this independent satirical comedy, whose plot is centered on sensitive political issues, would result in successful box office return. But regardless of Citizen Ruth’s poor performance in the box office, the positive critical response it received gave writer/director Alexander Payne the recognition that he deserved, which gave him the opportunity to continue his filmmaking career, leading to Payne winning two Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as two nominations for Best Director.