Tony First things first, if you're pro-life or pro-abortion you probably won't like this film. It's like many of us, ambivalent to the main issue, but shows the comedy that sometimes goes with passionate alternate views. It is well handled and evenly balanced in it's caricatures. Laura Dern is great as possibly the least glamorous heroine an actress would choose to play. But that could also be said of the whole cast, well acted, well made, well worth watching if it won't offend any strongly held views.

friedfysh I watched this after watching Election several times and listening to Alexander Payne's commentary for that film. He keeps promoting his own work (this film) throughout so I thought "Why not?" I like to see good directors' early works. This is well made and well acted but I just didn't connect with the story. I think maybe it's because I'm from Britain where abortion is a non-issue and the main theme of this film is abortion v.s. essentially religion and pro-life. Since this is not a conflict where I'm from, I found it difficult to care. It's a bit like the original Alfie; a British film that came out 30 years earlier and tells the same story but with more weight. Just watch Election again and save yourself the hassle.

gavin6942 An irresponsible, drug-addicted, recently impregnated woman (Laura Dern) finds herself in the middle of an abortion debate when both parties attempt to sway her to their respective sides.Alexander Payne makes his directorial debut here. Notably, he would go on to be Oscar-nominated for "Nebraska", a film starring Bruce Dern (Laura's father). He would have other Oscar nominations for writing, but working with the elder Dern gave him that extra feather in his cap.While the film's overt subject matter is abortion, Payne has insisted that the film is more prominently about the human side of fanaticism. Elaborating on this, Payne said, "People become fanatics for highly personal reasons. I mean, it's more about them and their own psychosis than about that cause." You can completely see this as the thrust of the film, as there is never any clear argument for or against abortion, and both sides pushed to their extreme with Ruth in the middle not giving a hoot.Oh, and Burt Reynolds shows up.

Lee Eisenberg In what has got to be one of Laura Dern's most interesting roles, she plays indigent drug addict Ruth Stoops, ordered to have an abortion at the risk of damaging her unborn fetus. That's when she gets taken in by a fundamentalist Christian, right-to-life family who starts using her as a rallying call. But abortion rights activists also see Ruth as a rallying call.Like "Thank You for Smoking", "Citizen Ruth" shows the hypocrisy of both sides in a controversial topic, as they both want to use an individual for their own ends. This movie sort of predicted what would happen to Terri Schiavo almost ten years in advance. Moreover, director Alexander Payne shows the twisted sensibility that he would later bring to "Election", "About Schmidt" and "Sideways". You gotta agree with what Ruth does at the end. Definitely one that I recommend.Also starring Kurtwood Smith, Swoosie Kurtz, Mary Kay Place, Kelly Preston, Kenneth Mars and Tippi Hedren.