Ruby in Paradise | 
| Director: Victor Nunez
Actors: Ashley Judd, Todd Field, Bentley Mitchum, Allison Dean, Dorothy Lyman
Studio: Republic Pictures
List Price: $9.98
Buy Used: $2.50
You Save: $7.48 (75%)
Used (13) Collectible (6) from $2.50
Rating:  36 reviews
Sales Rank: 1365
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: VHS Tape
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 115 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 6303026656
UPC: 017153347036
EAN: 9786303026657
ASIN: 6303026656
Theatrical Release Date: November 1993
Release Date: December 19, 1994
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: good shape in original box, moderate wear, though vhs is fully watched and plays fine, thanks.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
An uncommon gem of a film, this story of a young woman finding herself is a marvelous sleeper. Ashley Judd (Kiss the Girls) makes her film debut as Ruby, who moves to a Florida beach town and tries as best she can to earn a living. She begins working in a clothing store and starts dating men, but after some hard choices realizes she must first figure out who she is and what she wants out of life before she settles for something less than she deserves. Writer-director Victor Nunez (Ulee's Gold) tells his tale as an amiable slice of life story without forcing any of the emotion. And Judd gives an astounding performance as a young woman whose quiet inner strength allows her to grow and gain confidence in the person she wants to be. Avoiding all the possible cliches and presenting a positive, realistic, and touching character portrait, Ruby in Paradise is a rare and worthwhile discovery. --Robert Lane
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| Customer Reviews: Read 31 more reviews...
 Smart, quiet, honest December 14, 2005
Carol Toscano (New York City)
22 out of 22 found this review helpful
Ashley Judd is a real talent because she's smart (not just beautiful) and she can act. But I don't know if any film she has made or will ever make again can compare to the lonely magic of this film. I can't explain it. It's like a tour of the human soul from the perspective of a young woman who has left the past behind to start a new life only to find out that "new" is fraught with its own challenges and misery. Same problems, different geography. There's so much pain in the everydayness of our lives, in trying to find meaning and purpose - in how the mundane can bring us contentment in one breath and suffering in the next. But ultimately, that's OK. There are all of these quiet spaces of contemplation and observation in this film - similar to those moments each of us experience in daily life. It draws you in and you can't quite figure out why. The soundtrack is compelling as well.
Why is this not available on DVD?
Ashley Judd's debut film July 12, 2000
Ed N (Kensington, Maryland USA)
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
Ruby in Paradise is Ashley Judd's first film and, in my opinion, offers her best performance. She certainly deserved a best actress nomination for this role; I believe the only valid reason she didn't receive one was that this was too small a film and slipped by fairly unnoticed by most people and critics alike. While Ashley Judd has seen gone on to become quite a Hollywood celebrity, I do not feel that she has topped her performance in this film. The film itself is fairly straight-forward; it concerns a young girl named Ruby who runs away from an abusive family environment in Tennessee to try to make a new life for herself in a small Floridan ocean resort town. The film details her struggles to establish an identity for herself and to find her niche in life. This film, understandably, is quite character-driven in much the same way as in "Ulee's Gold" (by the same director) or Robert Duvall's "Tender Mercies" or Joan Chen's "Xiu Xiu" (all of which are excellent films). Nothing much happens during the film, yet the film is absorbing in its portrayal of the daily existence of Ruby. We see the slow metamorphosis of Ashley Judd's character from an uncertain girl into one who is more comfortable and has found direction for her life. It is all very subtly done with little nuances in Ashley Judd's performance and delicate, deliberate pacing by the director; nothing is flashed in big bold letters in front of our eyes, and I believe this makes the film all the stronger. The film is not for everyone - those searching for mindless, fast-paced blockbuster action need not apply, but those looking for a strong character-driven story will find much to like in this small gem of a film.
 A True Buried Treasure July 19, 2000
Ken J W Baker (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
I came across this movie some weeks back on a cool, cloudy, drizzly Sunday afternoon (something we've had more than our fair share of in my neck of the woods throughout the late spring and early summer)trip to the neighborhood Blockbuster. I had heard about the film in passing a couple of years earlier apropos of a discussion of the director, Victor Numez's then current feature, Ulee's Gold (which I thought was a worthy, albeit overrated film), and I knew it was the debut movie for Ashley Judd, whom I had long considered not only lovely to look at, but generally vastly superior to the material I had seen her in.The movie did not disappoint. Judd gives what is probably one of the great "unseen" performances of the '90's. It makes you wonder all the more why she seems compelled to waste her talent in cynical Hollywood tripe like Double Jeopardy (on the other hand she probably was paid more money for one day of her work on that film than she got for all of Ruby in Paradise). Ruby in Paradise has no real "plot" as such. It opens with a young woman loading up her car and fleeing a young man who it is implied is her husband or (more likely)boyfriend. Why she's leaving and what the circumstances surrounding her getaway are is never made clear or spelled out, and this is deliberate I think, and a wise choice. She winds up in a resort town in southern Florida that she remembers visiting on a family vacation as a child, and from there on, we get to pass through a few months of Ruby's life as she gets a job, makes a couple of new friends, gets briefly involved with a real Mr. Wrong, and then seems to meet a possible Mr. Right, and so forth. That's really it in a nutshell, but it really doesn't do the experience of watching this fascinating little film justice. Like Seinfeld, a sitcom which was "about nothing" but at it's best was really about everything, Ruby in Paradise lets us experience the life of an initially aimless but determined young woman as she takes her first tentative steps towards full-blown adulthood. By the end of the movie, we have come to know Ruby well enough to feel very pleased by her progress thus far, and wishing we could catch up with her again in a few years and see how she's making out. Indeed, if Ruby in Paradise were a novel instead of a movie, it could definately be the beginning of a series, similar to the "Rabbit" novels of John Updike. Moreover, although the film is about a female protaganist, and is told entirely from her point of view (indeed, she narrates periodically in voice-over), it is by no means a "chick flick." One of the numerous pleasures of the film is how it sidesteps, or puts a different spin on, all the various cliches we've come to expect (and even accept)in this genre. This film is probably not for everybody. It was obviously a low-budget affair, and has the grainy look of being possibly shot in 16 mm and then blown up. It is also VERY low-key, especially the first half-hour or so. But, if you've got a couple of free hours, and you feel like checking out something other than the whiz-bang flicks on the new releases shelf, this movie offers a lot of quiet, thoughtful pleasure.
My Favorite Movie January 8, 2000
melissa (San Antonio, TX)
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
How many of us have dreamed of dropping everything and moving far, far away from life's troubles? This is how Ruby in Paradise starts.. with Ruby leaving her troubles behind in the mountains of Tennesse only to start fresh at a Panama City souvenier store during its off-season.. The film gives a realistic view of what it's like to be alone and to have to deal with the struggles of that life choice.. I loved this film.. because in the end you know Ruby is going to be just fine.. Ashley Judd was superb as the lead character.. I've seen this movie at least 6 times.. It's a wonderful sleeper...
Please release on DVD and stuff it with extra features too! August 26, 2004
Gizmo Logix (Baltimore, MD United States)
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
I have it on VHS. It's an excellent film. I'll buy on DVD if it was available! And please put director and Judd's comentary on this DVD!!! I demand it! LOL!!!
That's all I have to say. :)
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