I had always pegged Ruby Sparks (known as He Loves Me up until this moment) as a fall release that would get something of an awards campaign going — but, hey, those could just be expectations set by Little Miss Sunshine. Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris took their sweet time in following up the 2006 Best Picture nominee, but their sophomore effort is finally (depending on who you ask) coming our way. After nearly a year of casting and comments, we’ve got the release date and plot synopsis to prove it.

First: July 25th. An unusual spot for smaller-scale indie fare (there’s some other movie coming out five days before, I believe), but humorous, possibly light material could let it act as effective counter-programming.

Oh, and you can read that plot synopsis below (via Collider):

Calvin (Paul Dano) is a young novelist who achieved phenomenal success early in his career but is now struggling with his writing – as well as his romantic life. Finally, he makes a breakthrough and creates a character named Ruby who inspires him. When Calvin finds Ruby (Zoe Kazan), in the flesh, sitting on his couch about a week later, he is completely flabbergasted that his words have turned into a living, breathing person.

While I don’t count myself among the Little Miss Sunshine camp, I do, nevertheless, kind of dig the basic gist of that setup. Dano previously indicated that some kind of romantic relationship forms — which, by the way, opens a whole can of ethical worms I wouldn’t dare try to sort out — and, darn it, I want to see where things go from there. Especially when you consider the strong supporting lineup, which includes Annette Bening, Antonio Banderas, Elliot Gould, Steve Coogan, Alia Shawkat, and Chris Messina. There will at least be that much going in; I only hope it doesn’t have to be enough.

Are you optimistic about Ruby Sparks? What does this synopsis do for you?