This conflict puts Ruth at ground zero in the endless cultural war between anti-abortion and pro-choice forces. Ruth is bailed out of jail by conservative zealots Norm and Gail Stoney (respectively, Kurtwood Smith and Mary Kay Place). Ruth moves in with them, so they can control her movements until the baby arrives. Their plan to use Ruth as a symbol backfires when she returns to inhalant use and slugs their young True Believer son (Sebastian Anzaldo III).
Gail's best friend Diane (Swoosie Kurtz) volunteers to take over the job of housing Ruth. But it turns out that Diane is a pro-choice spy within Diane's right-wing Christian group. Soon, Ruth is in Diane's place, where she is surrounded by pro-choice leftists, which include Diane's lesbian lover, Rachel (Kelly Preston), and Harlan (M.C. Gainey), a hardened Vietnam War amputee.
By now, Ruth's plight has received national attention. The competing groups bring in their legendary big guns. Pompous Burt Reynolds is the anti-abortion head honcho, while self-satisfied Tippi Hedren leads the pro-choice activists.
How others will see it. The typical viewer is likely a left-leaning woman who believes Citizen Ruth is a good comedy. That said, the leftist contingent is also ridiculed within the film. The movie suggests that the pro-choice movement is dominated by gays and lesbians, and that they care no more about Ruth (the indigent everywoman considering an abortion) than do the anti-abortionists. Ruth is just a publicity pawn to both sides, but she has a mind of her own, which chooses a third course. Take the money and get the hell out.
How I felt about it. Is Citizen Ruth a comedy or a drama. If it is a comedy, it is too uncomfortable too often to be funny. If it is a drama, then why are most scenes played for laughs? It is then, an unfunny comedy. That implies it is a failure, but that isn't the case. As a movie, it is insightful, regardless of whether or not it delivers a consistent message to its targeted demographic (namely, thirty-something feminists).
The first insight is that Ruth is a selfish, shallow drug addict. Considering all the spray cans she's inhaled, she's smarter than expected. She's attractive, in Steffi Graf fashion, but she's sympathetic only in that she is often frightened by the stridency of the "caretakers" that surround her.
The second insight is both sides of the abortion dilemma are playing a game. They appear to have lost sight of the indigent individual, who needs help independent of her decision to abort or deliver the baby. Ruth's most serious problem isn't that she's pregnant. She's homeless, unemployed, friendless, facing a prison stretch, and (worst of all) she is an irredeemable drug addict. What are the pro-choice and anti-abortion positions on how to get her to stop sniffing toxic fumes? Of course, no such positions exist.