They often tell you to write what you know. But they don't tell you what to do when what you write becomes real.

Six years after the breakout success of Little Miss Sunshine, husband and wife directorial team Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris return with the offbeat romantic comedy of Ruby Sparks.

Calvin (Paul Dano) is a struggling novelist who can't quite find anything he wants to write about. Encouraged by his shrink (Elliott Gould) to start creating his dream girl, Calvin's reality is upended when Ruby (screenwriter and Dano's off-screen girlfriend Zoe Kazan) suddenly manifests in his apartment, in love with him and precisely as he's written her.

Uplifting, joyfully absurd and also starring Antonio Banderas, Annette Bening and Steve Coogan, Ruby Sparks is a heart-warming comedy about writer's block, fantasy and the unexpected difficulties of getting exactly what you want.

Rated M

D Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris P Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa S Zoe Kazan Dist Twentieth Century Fox TD DCP/2012