CNS Movie Review: Just Like Heaven

Just Like Heaven

By Harry Forbes
Catholic News Service

NEW YORK (CNS) -- Here's a ghost story with a twist: The earthly body belonging to the ephemeral spirit is not, in fact, dead.

That's a bit of a spoiler as this tidbit is not revealed till about a quarter of the way into the film, but the putative departed person is merely in a deep coma after a near-fatal car accident.

Such is the premise of "Just Like Heaven" (DreamWorks), a charming romantic fantasy set in San Francisco concerning Elizabeth (Reese Witherspoon), a dedicated young doctor totally absorbed in her work to the exclusion of a personal life, whose car careens into an oncoming truck on a rainy night as she leaves the hospital en route to her sister, Abby (Dina Waters).

A while later, a recently widowed landscape artist, David (Mark Ruffalo), who has been fruitlessly searching for an apartment with his sharp-talking realty agent (Caroline Aaron), is magically smacked in the face with a "sublet" flyer, leading him finally to his ideal place.

It turns out it's the former abode of Elizabeth, who, in short order, materializes highly indignant that this scruffy stranger is leaving rings on her coffee table. After initial head-scratching, David figures out that she isn't human. With the aid of spacy, supernatural-bookstore-clerk Darryl (Jon Heder), he tries all manner of paranormal hocus-pocus and even an exorcism in a futile effort to banish her. Elizabeth begins to understand her own predicament. The only problem is she can't remember who she is or any details of her life.

Sympathy and a growing attraction prompt David to help Elizabeth discover who she was, and he eventually sees her comatose form lying in a hospital bed and her former rival doctor (Ben Shenkman) anxious to pull the plug. David must enlist the aid of Abby and his best friend, Jack (Donal Logue), to save the day. (The film actually makes an impassioned defense for not pulling the plug in these situations.)

The burgeoning warmth between the two is played very sweetly and touchingly, and there are several instances of characters making good moral decisions, as when the invisible Elizabeth wrestles a drink away from the despondent David in a crowded bar. Their bittersweet relationship compares favorably with the unusual -- but strangely moving -- relationship between Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison in the classic film, "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir." There are also echoes of human-ghost interaction films like "Topper" and, of course, "Ghost."

Despite a somewhat formulaic setup and an uncertain start, director Mark Waters applies just the appropriate gossamer touch to this film which is more romantic than outright funny, and the extremely appealing leads play with great delicacy. The script by Leslie Dixon was adapted from a French novel, "If Only It Were True," by Marc Levy.

There's an overarching message throughout of fidelity to one's true love. For example, despite the vampish seductiveness of a woman neighbor (Ivana Milicevic), David remains resolutely true to Elizabeth. There's also a lovely scene where he and Elizabeth lie in bed chastely "touching" hands, proving that sometimes the most intimate moments between people don't involve sex.

As far as supernatural bonbons like this go, "Just Like Heaven" stands head and shoulders above "Bewitched" earlier this season. There's a minimum of objectionable material -- a rarity these days -- and, best of all, the film has heart. A preview audience reacting with applause and tears would seem to agree.

The film contains some sexual innuendo and banter, mild profanity, a few crass expressions, brief rear hospital nudity, mild medical procedures including incisions, some occult thematic material, and an exorcism used for comic point, making this best for adults (and older adolescents). The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents are strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

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Forbes is director of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

END

Copyright (c) 2005 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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