Considering how middlebrow his work is now, it's hard to recall Alexander Payne once made exceptional edgy comedies. Citizen Ruth is the ballsiest of them all, going full force at both pro-life and pro-choice radicals. It's sharp-toothed comedy at its finest thanks to the always wonderful Laura Dern. She finds humor in places where there shouldn't be any, crafting a character who's too self-centered and oblivious to realize her own awfulness. Most of the supporting cast is super, namely Mary Kay Place and Swoosie Kurtz. Burt Reynolds' appearance as an evangelical pro-lifer with a child assistant who massages him shirtless is a rare misstep; it's a broad joke in a film that's otherwise above that.
