Alexander Payne’s 1996 directorial debut Citizen Ruth harkens back to a quaint time when Roe V. Wade seemed like a done deal and the public debate about whether or not a person should have agency over their own uterus was just that – a debate. Sure, there have always been plenty of folks who believe it their duty to shame pregnant people, lie to them about gestation milestones, and even literally stand between them and the abortion clinic. But back then, the law was generally on the side of the person who owned the body in question. As a forward-thinking individual, there’s not much I miss about 1996. But I do desperately miss the Me that believed abortion access was an inalienable right.
In Payne’s satirical comedy, Laura Dern plays Ruth Stoops, a chemical-huffing, unhoused young woman who finds herself at the center of the abortion debate when a judge offers to drop her drug charges if she terminates her pregnancy. Ruth has two children in state custody and two children living with her brother. When we first meet her, she’s having some very lackluster intercourse with a gross dude in exchange for a place to stay. He kicks her out the second he shoots his load of baby batter inside of her, despite their pre-coitus agreement. She is in less-than-ideal circumstances to bring another child into the world, even if she wanted to (she doesn’t). But, when a Christian fundamentalist group called the Soldiers of Christ cross her path in jail, they see Ruth as an opportunity to further their own anti-choice agenda.
Citizen Ruth is a delectable buffet of 90’s character actors, including Swoosie Kurtz, Kurtwood Smith, Alicia Witt, Mary Kay Place, and Diane Ladd. Dern as Ruth Stoops is the roast beef carving station of this entertaining spread. She’s in her comedic prime, screaming colorful profanities and emotionally swerving on a dime. In general, Dern is a criminally underrated physical comedian. Here, she hurtles her body through the scenes like a baby giraffe possessed by a strung-out Miss Piggy. Dern has said in interviews that she has never felt freer in a performance than she did playing Ruth. She sure looks like she’s having fun, and she’s a delight to watch as well. She finds the profound poetry in lines like, “Suck the shit out of my ass” and “You want to send a message? I ain’t no fuckin’ telegram, bitch!”. As the Soldiers of Christ would say, thank God for her. Without that holy acting talent, this movie would fall apart…
Effed by the Wind 