Just Like Heaven

Its been a long while since i've enjoyed a romantic comedy so much - possibly the last romantic comedy I enjoyed as much was Two Weeks Notice in 2002. The cast is fantastic - Mark Ruffalo and Reese Witherspoon make for great on screen chemistry and the script is sharp yet it is not all out and out comedy, it has subtle moments and enough tender moments to make it gel and become believable. Even the men in the group enjoyed the film, they were laughing and sighing along with us girls, which is quite impressive as usually they regard romantic films as girly trash to be avoided like the plague. While we didn't set out to see this film, we actually wanted to watch King Kong but tickets had sold out, it is well worth watching and I can't wait to see it again on DVD!

When I went to see this movie, I went in with high hopes and I was not disappointed. I enjoy Reese as an actor, and am becoming a fan of Mark Ruffalo's. Reese, as always, was the perfect main character that you just fell in love with from the very beginning and I really like Mark's ability to be a very physical actor, which Just Like Heaven took wonderful advantage of. The movie's storyline is good, it does have a couple of somewhat predictable turns, but what movie doesn't? The acting is very well done, I haven't laughed that much in a very long time and Reese and Mark have great chemistry on-screen. If you are looking for a really good chick flick to make you laugh, cry, and feel every motion in between, this is a great movie for you.

A rom-com with a twist of the supernatural, which makes the story original. This movie plays wonderfully with the audience's expectations at whether Reese Witherspoon's character Elizabeth is real as her and David (played by Mark Ruffalo) try and figure out why he can only see her etc. There are a couple of good twists later on as they piece things together. Though on meeting they resent each other, they soon start to bond and the resentment turns into romance. The transition between dislike and love is handled extremely well at just the right pace making it believable. The script is surprisingly witty making it smart and the acting between Ruffalo and Witherspoon is really good with a lovely chemistry between them. They are so likable particularly Witherspoon at the start, that you care deeply about them and just root for them to be together.

This isn't really funny though I laughed a few times. It's more the comedy that makes you smile as it's charming. There are also some touching scenes as well that tug at the heartstrings but not in a way that's too sentimental like slush. In the end this was a lovely rom-com and even though this came out in 2005, after the recent ones I've seen at the cinema like The Bounty Hunter, The Proposal and The Ugly Truth (which were awful with leads that act sexist and immature and who you can't root for making it unlovable and not funny). Just Like Heaven joins my list of others like Date Night, (500) Days of Summer and arguably the best ever rom-com Love Actually in the likable category. Enjoyable entertainment for it's length that puts a smile on your face. If you haven't seen this yet and want a good rom-com. I would recommend Just Like Heaven because I felt like I was on it with feeling happiness as I watched it. Just lovely.

In a day of love = sex, along comes supernatural love at its finest. Just Like Heaven features Reese Witherspoon as Elizabeth, a well known but lonely doctor comatose from an accident. Mark Ruffalo is David, the widower renting the apartment Elizabeth lived in and now haunts.

Both are in different places in their love lives, David who is suffering from the loss of his wife to a stroke, Elizabeth suffering from the lack of love in her life. They are forced into a heavenly-type relationship where love prevails through daily interaction between the two. At first, this 'person that will not go away' drives David mad but it doesn't take long to see the power of love in each of their actions.

Elizabeth, who is there every time David turns around, shows her jealousy when a flirty apartment neighbor invites herself in to visit David. David tracks down the identity of his mysterious house-guest, which leads him to being chased by a knife and breaking into Elizabeth's hospital room to steal her body.

This supernatural love also affects the people closest to David and Elizabeth. Abby, Elizabeth's sister, decides to give Elizabeth her last wish to show her love for her sister and Jack, David's friend, agrees to break into the hospital with David to help him save Elizabeth, both attempting to do things not normal for them.

Just as Sam and Molly's supernatural love caused them to do unlikely things for each other in Ghost (1990), David does many unimaginable things to try to save Elizabeth's life and find love again. In the end, the never physical love takes shape as David allows his feelings to be expressed in his actions.

Photography is used wonderfully in the movie as shots of the San Francisco skyline and the Golden Gate Bridge are highlighted throughout the film, giving you a sense of looking down from heaven on the growing love between David and Elizabeth, through the earthly and spiritual realm.

This far-fetched romantic comedy shows the power of love in its most ideal form.

This is another romantic comedy in which one of the leads is a ghost. It's been done several times before, but this version was still entertaining. The 2 lead actors, Reese and Mark, worked good together. Reese plays, Elizabeth, a work-a-holic doctor who is involved in a car accident. Next we meet, David, who is looking for an apartment and rents Lizzy's. Next thing he knows, he sees Lizzy telling him it's her apartment and to get out. Only problem, she's walking through objects and is a ghost. Only David can see her. He helps her discover who she was and what happened. They discover she's at the hospital in a coma and not dead. It's up to the 2 to figure out how to get her spirit back into her body before the plug is pulled.

I thought it was cute and it did have some funny moments. Most of them being David seemingly talking to himself as witnessed by others since they can't see Lizzy. It ends how all romantic comedies ends.

FINAL VERDICT: Fun, entertaining. I recommend it.