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Citizen Ruth Poster

Citizen Ruth

R
Movie
1996
1h 44m
English
Drama, Comedy
"Citizen Ruth" is the story of Ruth Stoops, a woman who nobody even noticed -- until she got pregnant. Now, everyone wants a piece of her. The film is a comedy about one woman caught in the ultimate tug-of-war: a clash of wild, noisy, ridiculous people that rapidly dissolves into a media circus.
Rating
WATCHMODE
6.8
IMDB
Citizen Ruth (1996) on IMDb
CRITIC SCORE
73

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Laura Dern
Ruth Stoops
Swoosie Kurtz
Diane Siegler
Kurtwood Smith
Norm Stoney
Mary Kay Place
Gail Stoney
Kenneth Mars
Dr. Charlie Rollins
David Graf
Judge Richter
Tippi Hedren
Jessica Weiss
Burt Reynolds
Blaine Gibbons
Shea Degan
Arresting Officer
Marilyn Tipp
Kathleen
Tim Vandeberghe
Bail Clerk
Alicia Witt
Cheryl Stoney
James Devney
Officer Iverson
Tim Driscoll
Officer Bundy
Delaney Driscoll
Ruth's "Sister"
Judith Hart
Sarah Schneider
Joan Pirkle
Dr. Cary Milton
Michael Tourek
Guy Hit by Toilet Lid
Jeffery Thomas Johnson
Harlan's Biker Friend
Directed By: Alexander Payne
Written By: Alexander Payne (Screenplay), Jim Taylor (Screenplay)

Featured Comments/Tips

CatyAlexandre says...
11 years ago
A great debut for Alexander Payne! Citizen Ruth tell the story of Ruth Stoops, a woman that always made bad choices in her life. She is very irresponsible, she is a drug addict and she is pregnant again. After being arrested one more time and when the judge finds out that she is pregnant he suggests to her that with all of her previous legal problems the better thing she has to do is "take care of her problem" if not she has to face much serious legal charges. The local pro-life group called The Babysavers finds out about this case and want to save Ruth trying to change up her mind about killing her unborn child. The thing is there's a pro-choice group also with one of their members infiltrated in the pro-life group, they try to pass Ruth for their side telling her that she can chose and if she doesn't want to have her child no one can forcing her to that decision. And that's when all of the troubles begin! Ruth is very immature and despite the serious theme this film is turns out to be hilarious due to the characters and the way some of the arguments are introduced. It's a clever satire about the controversy of abortion. The acting is very good from all of the cast particularly Laura Dern, who plays Ruth Stoops, with a very convincing performance. This is the kind of a film that has an open-ending where you are free to think what you want, and take your own conclusions of the story. What choice should Ruth make? Is Ruth really a bad person or she just needs help?
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Featured User Reviews

Jordyep
6/10  4 months ago
Once again I'm kinda baffled by how much more personality this has than Payne's later works. It's one thing to mature as a filmmaker, but with Payne I've always felt like he became increasingly safe after he started to receive serious critical acclaim. There's a lot I find quite impressive about thi More
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