Just Like Heaven

Elizabeth Masterson (Reese Witherspoon) is a doctor that just got the position that she has been hoping for. The competitor, Brett (Ben Shenkman), isn't very happy, but what can you do. She then calls her sister Abby (Dina Spybey) to celebrate and to say that she is running late. She then gets into a car accident.

We skip to David (Mark Ruffalo) who is looking for an apartment. After some failures, he stumbles on one for sublet and falls in  love with the couch, which is the most important thing, because all he does is move from the couch to the fridge  to get another beer and then back to the couch.  Elizabeth shows up and demands that he get out of her house and then vanishes. He sees her a few times and is convinced that he is going crazy.  He goes out with his friend, Jack (Donal Logue) the shrink, who is worried for David. We learn that for the past two years David has been closed off from the rest of the world, he even blew off the blind date Jack set up for him.  Jack tells him to get out more.

David doesn't and instead discovers that Elizabeth is a ghost, since she can't touch anything. So he tries to get her out by different means, none of which work.  In the process we learn that David's wife died and he has been depressed and can't let go. We also learn that Elizabeth can't remember anything about her past. So David decides to help her. They find out nothing except that she was slightly anti-social until a man falls unconscious and Elizabeth walks David through how to save him. They go to the closest hospital and discover that she not only used to work there, but she also had an accident and had been in a coma for the past three months.

Elizabeth tries to jump back into her body, but it doesn't work and she decides to stay in the hospital. Once David leaves, she discovers that Brett has her position and is talking to Abby about pulling the plug on Elizabeth. She runs, or flies I guess, over to David and gets him to try to convince Abby to change her mind, but she's already signed the papers. So David does the next logical thing: he lies to Jack and gets his friend to help him break into the hospital and steal the body of the woman he loves. They don't make it very far and right when Elizabeth's vitals flat line, David kisses her and she wakes up. Only she doesn't remember him. Heartbroken David leaves.

As Elizabeth is putting her life back in order, she feels like there is something missing. David is on the roof of the apartment and when he gives her back the key, their hands brush and all the memories they shared when she was an astral projection come flooding back and they kiss. The end.

I hate to say it, but I actually really liked this movie. It was funny and well acted and actually original, which is more than I can say for most romantic comedies. The main problem I had was with the whole fate thing. That David was meant to sublet the apartment, since he's the only one who can see her, and how they were supposed to meet the night of her accident. (Remember that date he blew off? Turns out that Jack is a friend of Abby's.) I think I would have liked it more if it was all one big coincidence.

I also didn't like Brett's character. I know he was supposed to be the 'villain' but it wasn't very realistic. And Katrina? What was up with that chick? Who barges into a man's apartment that they've met only once and starts taking off all their clothes? Who does that? Especially when it is painfully obvious that the dude ain't interested in you.

Ignoring those things, it was a very good movie.

Grade: 7/10