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"Just Like Heaven"
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 Entertainment
 Art
Directed by Mark Waters
Screenplay by Peter Toland and Leslie Dixon
From a novel by Mark Levy
Starring Reese Witherspoon, Mark Ruffalo and Jon Heder
Rated PG-13 for sexual situations
Released September 15, 2005
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Resident Dr. Elizabeth Masterson (Reese Witherspoon) is on the verge of achieving attending physician (remember your E.R. lexicon from all those TV dramas?) when she’s involved in a terrible accident. Depressed widower David Abbott (Mark Ruffalo) knows nothing of the circumstances, but rents Elizabeth’s beautiful San Francisco rooms-with-a-view through a realtor (Caroline Aaron). While opening his umpteenth can of MGD, he is startled to find Elizabeth walking around the apartment. Each claims the other is trespassing, but when David follows the young woman as she stomps into the kitchen to call the police, she disappears.
After another mysterious appearance, David determines that his houseguest might actually be a spirit or a ghost. He consults his therapist pal Jack (Donal Logue), the realtor, a priest, some Chinese spiritualists, a team of ghostbusters, and finally an occult bookstore employee named Darryl (John Heder). Hijinks ensue, the corporeal and the non-corporeal fall for each other, and the plot eventually leads us to David’s 11th hour attempt to keep Elizabeth’s spirit from disappearing forever. Director Mark Waters and screenwriters Peter Tolan and Leslie Dixon keep all the answers just beyond our grasp, making for a satisfying final act.
A lot of films have dwelt on the “not quite dead” idea, but the actors in this one make it work better than most. Witherspoon has delighted on screen before, but fans will notice a new maturity in this performance. Yes, she’s a doctor (a more convincing one than, say, Meg Ryan in “City of Angels”), but she’s also a workaholic with no social life. That she has to almost die to realize the life she’s been missing is just one of the film’s messages, and Witherspoon pulls off the change nicely, fleshing out what could have been a caricature.
Ruffalo only has to appear to lend a higher level of credibility to the film. He did a similar thing for “13 Going on 30,” a not dissimilar story, but a less convincing one. His handling of the advances of a seductive neighbor (Ivana Milicevic) avoid slapstick, underlining the reality of David’s plight. One of Ruffalo’s best scenes here, in which he makes himself a real meal instead of his usual potato chips and beer, contains no dialogue, but tells us all we need to know about (again) the necessary character change.
“Just Like Heaven” is as much romance as it is comedy, but it’s never preachy. There’s no mention of God or angels or even heaven (despite the title) and important plot turns like that Elizabeth didn’t die because she has something to accomplish are mentioned fleetingly. But you can ignore the logic holes because the approach is so engaging.
While the supporting players are fine, none is particularly striking, except Heder, whose dry, funny turn as a man with The Gift, should add to his cult status following “Napoleon Dynamite.” Okay, I almost forgot the little kids. Elizabeth’s sister Abby (Dina Waters) has two little girls (Kerris Dorsey and Alyssa Shafer) who don’t say much, but the bit when they play with the automatic bed controls of a coma patient is hilarious.
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