JUST LIKE HEAVEN
Reviewed by Steve Biodrowski
This movie is like a dollop of whipped cream: sweet and frothy, certainly pleasant, but also light and ephemeral. You enjoy it while it lasts, but it is almost instantly forgettable. As far as romantic-comedy-fantasies go, it is usually funny enough to pass for good entertainment, but it lacks the depth and grandeur to make the romance really soar to the giddy heights achieved by a true classic like THE GHOST AND MRS MUIR (1947).
Reese Witherspoon plays a young dedicated doctor who earns an internship at a hospital after working a 24-hour-plus shift. Driving to a blind date set up by her sister, she winds up on the wrong end of an eighteen-wheeler truck, and the next thing we know, despondent lonely-guy Mark Ruffalo is renting her apartment on a month-by-month basis (why a long lease is not available will become apparent as the plot develops). He is shocked when Witherspoon's Dr. Elizabeth Masterson suddenly appears, demanding (with anal retentive fury) to know what the hell he is doing messing up her place with his slovenly habits, which include leaving rings on her table because he won't use coasters under his beer bottles.
Ruffalo's David Abbott has been drinking so much that at first he fears he is suffering hallucinations, but it soon becomes apparent to both him -- and more importantly to Elizabeth -- that she is indeed an incorporeal spirit. Unfortunately, she has lost all memory, not only of how she ended up in this state but also of what her life was like before.
The first half of the film details David's attempt to help Elizabeth regain her memories, which leads to a surprise plot twist that takes up the second half of the story. Of course, the plot mechanics are just an excuse to give the characters something to do, so that they will have an opportunity to get to know each other and fall in love. The looming tragic element of being spiritually close to someone whom you cannot touch physically (which also fueled GHOST AND MRS MUIR) is in this case wiped away all too easily, with the result that the film too often feels like manipulative Hollywood entertainment, with all the rough edges smoothed over and without the sort of genuine drama that could have better balanced its comedy.
Witherspoon is an interesting choice for the disembodied spirit. Although a beautiful blonde, she is far from the stereotype; there is something not quite right about her face: forehead perhaps a bit too large, giving her a slightly annoyed, aggressive expression that suggests something deeper going on in her head. This is perfect for a character who is supposed to have been so obsessed with her career that she had no personal life, but the movie downplays this plot element in favor of portraying Elizabeth as the perfectly caring, kind-hearted doctor -- of a sort that seems more appropriate to an afterschool special than an adult romance.
Ruffalo, at first glance, doesn't seem to have what it takes to be a charistmatic male romantic lead, but he gradually reveals depth to his character, and he does a fine job with the comic bits, especially a brief manic moment when David is possessed by Elizabeth. It's the kind of scene that rises or falls on the actor's performance, and he pulls it off.
But the real scene-stealer here is Jon Heder (of NAPOLEAN DYNAMITE) as the laid-back proprieter of a supernatural book store, whom David consults for help with his predicament. It's hard to point to specific funny lines; he just manages to say everything in a way that forces the audience to chuckle.
If the rest of the film had been that good, it might have worked as a comic masterpiece, in spite of its failings in the romantic department. But too much time is wasted on bad jokes (brief spoofs of THE EXORCIST and GHOSTBUSTERS are dreadfully unfunny), and too often songs are deployed on the soundtrack to goose up scenes that aren't working. In a desperate attempt to generate some excitement and easy laughs, there is even what amounts to a chase scene tossed in gratuitously near the end. It's all too obviously a sop to males in the audience, as if the filmmakers feared women would be dragging in their reluctant boyfriends, who deserved something in exchange for sitting through all the touchy-feely chick-flick stuff.
The special effects are occasionally amusing (Elizabeth is forced to acknowledge her disembodied state of being when she realizes that her "body" is bisected by table top, only her upper half visible), but their anonymous technical precision seems more appropriate to a serious film; they have not been fashioned stylistically to form an organic part of a romantic-comedy. (By way of contrast, the effects in GHOSTBUSTERS are excellent, but they are also funny.)
In the end, too much of the film is ham-handed in its attempt to jerk tears of joy out of the audience. The result is cornball and sappy, even goofy. If you're in a mood to forgive, you may find yourself needing a handkerchief to dry your eyes; if not, you may still find yourself chuckling from time to time even while thinking the film's title is a bit too optimistic. It's not "just like heaven," but it is just like Hollywood take a good idea and turn it into so much less than it could have been.
