Rapid Review: Just Like Heaven (2005)

“I shouldn’t be seeing a little blonde control freak.”
– David Abbott

SYNOPSIS: Elizabeth Masterson is a dedicated, workaholic doctor who is way to busy for a life. One night, she gets into a horrible car accident and becomes a spirit stuck between heaven and earth. She doesn’t know she’s dead and thinks nothing has happened until she meets David Abbott, a lonely architect, who rents her old apartment. David thinks he’s crazy by seeing Elizabeth’s spirit and tries all ways to get rid of her, but she just won’t go away. Although the two are complete opposites they somehow may just form a relationship. – via IMDB

I don’t know why and I cannot explain it, but this is one of those little closet guilty pleasures for me once every few years. I liked this because as much as it border on cliché at times, it manages to bear itself over rather well. There were highly amusing scenes in this film, and who knew Napoleon Dynamite would graduate, talk a little more, and get involved with all things spiritual? I have a real soft spot for Mark Ruffalo, and I am always really happy when I get to see him in films, I think he is talented and underrated. He’s adorable in here, but not in that I-want-to-retch soppy, romantic crap kind of way. He was quite nice. Now, there is nothing revolutionary about this plot, but instead of this frustrating you, it is sweet and draws you in, despite your very best intentions. If you take this too seriously, you are definitely going to hate it. Just embrace the cheese, and the silly plot between the two leads, and enjoy the humour and the way it takes shape, too. I can’t remember when last I saw Reese Witherspoon in something, another one of those actresses that was in just about every other movie years ago and just slipped away (with the exception of last year’s Wild). I enjoyed her and Ruffalo in here, her incessant need to control, and his insistence on getting on her last nerve. It’s sweet and it is shameless and corny to boot, but it all comes together rather well I suppose, especially seeing how it is following a tried and tested recipe. This one just manages it better than most. I think, however, this is still really more of a chick flick than anything, but it is fun and heartwarming, and certainly not the worst movie of the genre to spend time on.