Spirited performances

Our rating:

Reese Witherspoon continues to rake in the bucks in this feelgood romantic comedy, co-starring the newest male sweetheart on the block, Mark Ruffalo.

Witherspoon plays Elizabeth Masterton, a workaholic medical intern with a sister bent on setting her up with a nice man to complete her domestic bliss. Unfortunately Elizabeth is in a nasty car accident on her way to one of her sister’s blind dates, and never makes it to the house.

Enter Mark Ruffalo’s character David Abbott, a landscape gardener recovering from his own relationship dramas. David is househunting, and the cosmos leads him to rent Elizabeth’s vacant apartment. David movies in and all is well, until Elizabeth’s spirit shows up, with no recollection of her ‘real’ life, and refusing to believe that she is in fact, dead.

At first David tries to rid the house of Elizabeth's spirit, but eventually they decide the only way to set her spirit at peace is to find out who she really was and complete any ‘unfinished business’.

Witherspoon has proven herself as a comedic actress in recent years, from Legally Blonde and Sweet Home Alabama, going right back to her breakout role in the darkly hilarious independent film Election. The success of Legally Blonde made her a household name and a leading lady capable of carrying a mainstream film all the way to the bank. Her versalitity as a dramatic performer also earned her rave reviews in the period flicks The Importance of Being Earnest and Vanity Fair, and of course, her first Oscar for her portrayal of June Carter-Cash in Walk the Line.

Ruffalo also earned his chops in independents as well as blockbuster bit parts, moving only recently into the leading man category and taking a rest from his serious roles with some light-hearted rom-coms (Suddenly 30 and Rumour Has It). His babyface features make him perfect for cute chick-flicks, although his dark turn in the graphic and violent In The Cut with Meg Ryan showed producers he was more than a pretty face.

Just Like Heaven is the perfect vehicle for these two talented performers to pocket some extra cash, with a tried-and-true plot harking back to classic romances such as Ghost, while keeping things modern and fresh with some kooky supporting characters and a few uncomfortable situations.

The script is based on Marc Levy’s novel If Only it Were True, and it stands up well with other rom-com novel adaptation such as Someone Like You (Ashley Judd and Hugh Jackman). Levy has an impressive back-catalogue of relationship novels published both in English and in French that I’m sure we’ll see on screen in future years.

Director Mark Waters coaxes genuine performances out of some fairly cheesy situations, and doesn’t overdo the schmaltz factor (which is so often done in off-the-rack romantic comedies). His skills from previous chick-flick hit Mean Girls carry over nicely with Witherspoon, whose witty one-liners are a highpoint of the film.

The plot twists are pretty predictable, but I still found it an enjoyable night in with a DVD. Witherspoon and Ruffalo have legions of fans that will ensure this disc does well, and it will also appeal to the chick-flick crowd. The PG rating will probably also see it do well in the pre-teen market (a welcome change from Hilary Duff and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen).

Belinda Yench

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Just Like Heaven

Director: Mark Waters
Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Mark Ruffalo, Donal Logue and Jon Heder
DVD release: 19 April 2006