Just Like Heaven
Although it has a promising start, Just Like Heaven ends up being nothing more than a predictable, mildly entertaining yet badly executed romantic comedy.
Story
The socially inept Elizabeth Masterson (Reese Witherspoon) is a workaholic doctor who never leaves the hospital. Her married sister Abby (Dina Waters) tries in vain to set up with a good man to no avail. But fate is about to intervene. On her way home from a long shift, Elizabeth gets into a head-on collision with a semi-truck and suddenly the lines between life and death are blurred. Jumping forward, we meet David Abbott, (Mark Ruffalo), a guy wallowing in self-pity from the death of his wife two years earlier, who, to find some solitude, moves into a fabulous furnished apartment. What he doesn't know is the previous tenant hasn't left, not really. That's right, it was Elizabeth's apartment and for whatever reason (seriously, they don't entirely explain it), Elizabeth--or her spirit, I guess--hasn't grasped the idea that she is in, well, limbo. Only David can see her, of course, as she yells at him for leaving sweat rings on the coffee table, but Elizabeth eventually grows on him. She elicits his help in finding out what happened to her, and with a little help from the eccentric Darryl (Jon Heder), a bookstore employee who has the gift for sensing spirits, David and Elizabeth find that heaven and earth are not really that far apart.
Acting
As our romantic pair, Witherspoon and Ruffalo do an adequate job adhering to the staid romantic comedy formula. Witherspoon is one of the more consistent comedic actresses these days and has the sweet but controlling ingénue routine down to a science. But it may be time for her to take a break from the standard fare and head back to the indies, getting down and dirty like she did in Election. Ruffalo does a pretty impressive job for his second time as the romantic lead. As he did with 13 Going on 30, Ruffalo at least tries to add some quirky twists to a boring character. Still, he should also probably stick to showcasing his dramatic acting talent in cool indies, much like he did in You Can Count on Me. It's Heaven's side characters who have all the fun. Waters (The Haunted Mansion) does a nice turn as the caring sister, who's own hectic life as a mother of two rambunctious kids always seems to interfere with what she's doing. Donal Logue (TV's Grounded For Life) as David's therapist best friend, too, has a fun time yuking it up. But the real standout in an otherwise dull universe is Napoleon Dynamite himself, Jon Heder, in his second feature film. He's still a geek but at least this time he's a mystical one who knows a thing or two about wandering spirits. Of course, he also gets the best lines: ''I'm 99.9 percent parched here. I need a cola.'' I'm going to use that one from now on.
Direction
As the director of the satirical Mean Girls and the cutesy Freaky Friday, Mark Waters may be out of his element with an out and out romantic comedy. The initial idea about a women whose stuck in the spirit world until she finds the true love she never sought after in life is somewhat intriguing. But rather than play with that, the film just ends up your standard romantic comedy, while also stealing from other films, such as Ghost and The Sixth Sense. Just Like Heaven also has some serious logistical flaws. For example, seeing how Elizabeth is supposed to be a ghost--that she can't touch anything tangible and can walk through walls, tables and just about anything else--she is later seen laying on top of a table. It doesn't make sense as to how she can walk through it at one moment, and be on it the next. And the fact you are paying attention to these inconsistencies means you just aren't caring that much about the rest of the film.
Bottom Line
Just Like Heaven is sweet enough for some but it's going to be ''just like hell'' for boyfriends who are dragged kicking and screaming to this boring chick flick.