Call it stuck in a moment you can't get out of. Call it missing the light at the end of the tunnel. Or even call it not passing on to that beautiful mansion in the sky. That's what life is like for Elizabeth Masterson, played by Reese Witherspoon, in Mike Waters' Just Like Heaven.
Witherspoon, the sweetheart of Legally Blonde and Sweet Home Alabama
plays a workaholic emergency room doctor. Devoting 24 hours of her day to the patients in the hospital, Elizabeth struggles for any sort of social life. In fact, it is nonexistent.
One evening, Elizabeth's sister Abby (Dina Spybey) eagerly attempts to set up Elizabeth on a blind date. Running late (and on very little sleep), Elizabeth hops into her car and begins driving in a torrential downpour, running directly into a semi-truck.
Switch scenes to a lonely widower named David Abbott. Abbott, played by Mark Ruffalo (Collateral and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), is struggling to find an apartment to lease in San Francisco where he can spend his days wallowing and drinking beer. David gets a visit from Elizabeth, the apartment's former owner. But he wasn't expecting a visitor who can walk through walls.
And she is a spirit to be reckoned with. From that moment on, the two begin bantering back and forth about who owns the apartment and who has the right to live there. David volunteers to help Elizabeth find out about the former life she cannot remember. The journey takes the two on a whirlwind of clues to find out Elizabeth's identity - ending in something quite predictable.
The romantic movie is certainly filled with its moments of humor. With help from actor Jon Heder (better known as Napoleon from Napoleon Dynamite) as the expert on strange encounters at a local bookstore, David continually tries to rid his life of Elizabeth; he chants, casts spells and even tries to exorcise her out.
While comedic at times, the movie lacks depth - but this can be expected in such a foreseeable flick. The order of events is quite anticipated from Elizabeth's rescue to the last scene in the movie.
Most viewers could recognize that the banter was turning into a tender, starry-eyed man falling for the spirit of a delightful woman. A traditional plotline was simply twisted into a romantic comedy. Although a bit unbelievable (put on your fairy tale hats, for sure), the movie definitely brings out the warm fuzzies. Just Like Heaven gives us a glimpse of the afterlife - and for David and Elizabeth, that's true love. 17
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Natalie Pezzenti
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In the romantic comedy Just Like Heaven
Reese Witherspoon plays Elizabeth Masterson, a beautiful ghost who haunts a widower, played by Mark Ruffalo.
