Just Like Heaven

Director: Mark Waters
Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Mark Ruffalo, Jon Heder, Donal Logue
Running time: 95 mins
Certificate: PG

When depressed architect David Abbot (Ruffalo) moves into his new San Francisco apartment he finds it furnished not only with the usual fixtures and fittings but with the spirit of the comatose previous resident Elizabeth Masterson (Witherspoon) which only he can see.

A workaholic ER doctor, Elizabeth is left in a persistent coma after a collision with a truck whilst on her way to an extremely rare blind date. Although her new condition frees up most of her spirit's time, she is unhappy with the state of affairs and enlists the help of her unwanted flatmate to find out what has happened to her so that they can both live in peace. At first hating each other, they warm to one another as David's emotional death is cured whilst they try to save Elizabeth from her literal one in this fun likeable romantic comedy based on the novel If Only It Were True by Marc Levy.

Like a number of movies involving ghosts who go wandering around with their corporeal counterparts, Just Like Heaven has problems. In particular, Waters seems a little choosy as to how ghostly Elizabeth really is under different circumstances - early on in the film she fails to grab a phone before her heels go clippety-clop out of the room, and she seems to have little problems making her presence felt on furniture or sitting in cars. However, this soon fails to matter due to the film's strength in other areas, as long as you don't refuse to let go of a little logic for one and a half hours.

Aside from this slight moan, there is little to complain about. Although some gags fall a little flat here and there, there are some truly witty lines, good visual humour and a fair share of slapstick. The film has enough to keep a smile on your face most of the way through with a good range of humour presenting some genuinely hilarious moments and stops the audience from noticing the fact that the storyline could have been dealt with in half the time.

What really makes the movie enjoyable and the flaws in logic and abundant coincidences forgivable is the excellent lead performances by Ruffalo and Witherspoon who provide real character to the roles. Also entertaining is Jon Heder's performance as a spiritual book shop worker, whilst Donal Logue provides additional laughs as that rom-com staple, the well-meaning if unconvinced best mate.

All in all, Just Like Heaven isn't quite as it claims to be, but is certainly one of the year's more endearing romantic comedies with some excellent performances and script masking its flaws.