Just Like Heaven

Elizabeth (REESE WITHERSPOON) and David (MARK RUFFALO) begin to share more about each other’s lives in DreamWorks Pictures’ romantic comedy JUST LIKE HEAVEN. Photo Credit: ©2005, DreamWorks Pictures.

Dr. Elizabeth Masterson (Reese Witherspoon) is in a beautiful garden, only to wake up and realize she’s been up for 23 hours straight in the ER/Trauma center of St. Matthews General Hospital in San Fransisco. My initial inclination was that this would be another hokey romantic comedy, and, well, to a certain extent, it is. But it’s likeable-hokey.

She’s the over-achiever woman who, when she enters the scene at the ER, does everything, fixes every situation and desperately wants to make staff physician. In other words, something bad is about to disrupt her control-freak existence.

Her sister, Abby (Dina Waters), juggles kids while cooking and setting Elizabeth up with a blind date.

“Who put,” parents, stop me if you’ve heard this one before, “Spongebob in the pasta?”

Unfortunately, Elizabeth doesn’t make the blind date. She’s blinded by the headlights of an oncoming truck and the screen fades toward white… implying, in the language of all romantic death movies, that she has died.

David Abbott (Mark Ruffalo) is looking for a new place. His real estate agent takes him around posh apartments ranging from trendy to, well, flaming. At any rate, none of these settings comfort him. Then, in a Forrest Gump moment, a badly computer-generated piece of paper floats its way into David’s hands. It’s an advertisement for a sublet.

David, much to the chagrin of his real estate agent, wants to check out the quaint sublet. Every room is bathed in shafts of sunlight. Either there’s a supernatural presence or the ventilation is lousy. But it has the right couch for David’s favorite activity—lounging around by himself.

One night, he begins seeing Elizabeth around his apartment. There’s even a moment that pokes fun at the ghost-in-the-bathroom-mirror trick (later on, be sure to watch for the nearly-hit-in-the-head-by-the-boom-mic trick).

She is infuriated because she doesn’t think she’s dead. So, she spends her time driving David up the wall with her obsessive-compulsive behavior. It’s not every day you find a ghost in your living room giving you crap about not using a coaster on the coffee table.

He consults his friend Jack (Donal Logue), “I shouldn’t be seeing some blonde control-freak running around my apartment.”

Jack isn’t much help, so David visits a metaphysical bookstore to seek answers. There he encounters Darryl (Jon Heder). Darryl appears to have the ability to sense her presence and influence, but we can’t really tell as Darryl seems genuinely spaced-out all the time. Darryl suggests some books, and David goes home to try a spell. The spell, of course, doesn’t work. So, he’s left with a beautiful ghost who won’t stop harassing him about what a slob he is. I wish I had his problem.

The film makes a nod to Friedkin when David invites an exorcist with apparently bad aim. Feng-shui experts, ghost-busters, you name it… Of course none of them work, but then that was never going to be the case. There’s also the matter of a woman that David can’t get over… but given that there are few surprises in this otherwise sufficiently entertaining film, I’m not going to spoil the relevance of this.

Eventually, David begins to show sincere empathy toward Elizabeth’s… er, condition. So, he starts trying to help her recall who she is and what exactly happened. This leads to an incident at a café she recognizes where a man falls unconscious. It’s up to David, naturally, to revive him. Lucky for the unconscious guy this is the day there just happens to be a ghost in the house with an M.D.

While readers may certainly take note of some of my seeming criticisms of romantic comedies, I have to clarify that I take them for what they are. This is an enjoyable film depending on your mood. Every now and then, I see a few thought-provoking films and then I just need to mentally discharge—do something fun. Reese Witherspoon has a certain quality about her that makes otherwise bland storylines perk up and retain some degree of humor that’s good enough on a Saturday afternoon.

What bothers me, just slightly, (I must warn here of potential spoilers) is that this film digresses briefly from the central romantic tension by invoking certain moral quandaries and appeals to emotion regarding how we as human beings choose to deal with death. Granted, I don’t have a problem with that, when it’s served within a context that makes more serious questions expected and, well, topical rather than tangential (the tangential quandaries always seem manufactured and preachy).

However, the final resolution to the film doesn’t rely on unscientific appeals to emotion or nonsensical moral quandaries. Instead, it pulls itself back together by focusing on the feelings David and Elizabeth begin to have for one another. In that respect it is a good film that gets distracted only momentarily. We can choose, in such a film, to ignore the factual errors that produce the unrealistic complication and instead appreciate the characters for who they are. Anyone who bases their morality on a subplot in a romantic comedy is simply asking for the same kind of trouble bestowed upon those who draw the meaning of life from a fortune cookie or a backwards-playing record. Take a cue from David: Don’t be so serious. Enjoy the movie for what it is, not what it appears to be.

Just Like Heaven • Dolby® Digital surround sound in select theatres • Running Time: 1 hour 41 minutes • MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some sexual content. • Distributed by DreamWorks Pictures