That Darned Ruthie

There's a certain mystique about Hopper's character that Ruthie falls into, it's pretty easy to see even from the beginning with the early dialogue between them. She seems to like both the idealism she sees in Deputy Rock (the puppet show) as well as the intrigue behind the man, who plays a little hard-to-get from her viewpoint and has an air of mystery about him.

I don't remember the words exactly but it's when Ruthie's out by the Keeper's car and she's trying to persuade him into doing the puppet show for a television audience. She mentions that it would be a good thing for him to do for the world and he says something along the lines of, "What makes you think I care about being good?"

She wasn't the brightest tool in the box, she had the most lax sense of morality of anyone in the film, and yet I still kinda liked her character. I found it a little amusing that she decides to film Gina in her cell and then run her bluff with Hopper in the confrontation scene, knowing full well that Deputy Rock was going to kill her. Even though I saw it coming six furlongs out, that scene was enjoyable.

As for the other policeman working out that Krebs was the kidnapper, I figured it was from his relentless detective work, his putting together some suspicious occurences involving Hopper (the inconsistency with his story, the other strippers, and his over-cavalier attitude towards the whole thing - saying she won't check back... trust me and how he basically tells him to go ahead and knock himself out with the case although he makes no bones about the fact he thinks the whole thing is a waste of time) that it didn't seem too bad that he pulled up later in the film during the climax. Although, yes, it was awfully convenient.

I can understand Burns getting hinky about Krebs, but would he drive all the way out to Krebs' house just to ask him that one question? Seems like that'd be something he'd casually mention at the office just to get Krebs' reaction.

I enjoyed this film overall, but there were a couple small things that seemed tired to me and could've been done differently. The girl tripping and falling while fleeing her captor/attacker is soooo cliche. Also that was a newer model Volvo at the end and all Volvos manufactured after 2003 have emergency trunk releases inside the trunk. Even if Gina didn't know about it, Burns could've directed her and gotten her out quicker than the time it took for him to dive underwater and enter the vehicle.