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Telling a friend you’ve set her up on a date with a sweet guy who has a good personality is like giving the dating candidate the kiss of death. But thankfully there’s no such stigma attached to the word 'sweet' when it's used to describe a romantic comedy. “Just Like Heaven” is the movie equivalent of a harmless first date: polite and sweet. It's a pleasant enough way to spend an evening, yet ultimately totally forgettable.
“Just Like Heaven” doesn’t try to reinvent the romantic comedy genre. It sticks to the old formula of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy fights to get girl back. The only thing that sets this rom com apart is the talented cast and the plot twist of having the female lead portray a ghost.
Reese Witherspoon stars as Elizabeth, a workaholic doctor who has no social life, no friends other than acquaintances at work, and no romantic entanglements. As a doctor competing for a residency position with a butt kissing suck up (played with smarmy charm by Ben Shenkman), Elizabeth survives on lots of caffeine and a determination to be the best. But her 'survival' is soon an issue when, while distracted driving home, she crashes her car into a big rig.
Mark Ruffalo enters the picture as David, a former landscape designer who recently suffered through life-altering upheaval of his own. Subletting an apartment in San Francisco (he selected it based solely on the furnished apartment’s comfy couch), David now spends his days and nights flipping through TV channels, guzzling beer, munching on fast food, and generally moping around. Not wanting to be bothered, David tucks himself away from life by spending the majority of his time safely inside his rented apartment.
But David’s cozy apartment soon becomes a little crowded. Elizabeth shows up out of the blue, claiming the place is hers (which it is) and that he has no right to be there (which he does). David figures he’s either crazy or he’s being haunted by a very unpleasant, pushy ghost. Deciding it’s the latter, he tries his best to get Elizabeth to go into the light. When that doesn’t work, the two make an uneasy truce. Together they try and figure out what happened to Elizabeth, whose skills now include walking through walls and other ghostly feats, and why her ghost can only be seen by David.
Since this is a romantic comedy and because the eventual outcome is telegraphed from the start (and in the movie’s trailer), you know these two are going to wind up falling for one another despite the fact that, as a ghost, Elizabeth is unable to touch anything. How they work things out and what they have to overcome to get there is what makes “Just Like Heaven” such a cute little feel-good, fluffball comedy.
The two leads are adorable. Even when Mark Ruffalo’s character is at his frumpiest (as called for in the script), the actor can’t help but look sweetly attractive. Reese Witherspoon once again proves she’s a sure thing when it comes to casting romantic comedies. She can pull off things others of her generation would look silly trying to attempt. And let’s face it, Witherspoon is this generation’s Meg Ryan - whether she wants to be or not. I say that with the following caveat: Witherspoon’s only comparable to Ryan as far as romantic comedies are concerned. Witherspoon’s dramatic skills are much more advanced than Ryan’s were at the same age. Witherspoon also does darker comedy better than Ryan ever did.
Jon Heder follows up his breakthrough performance in “Napoleon Dynamite” with a supporting role in “Just Like Heaven.” Playing the owner of an occult book store, Heder’s character provides a link between the living and the dead. His character also generates a large dose of laughs. In fact, the preview audience I was with actually laughed as soon as Heder’s face appeared onscreen. He didn’t even have to utter a line to win the audience over.
“Just Like Heaven” isn’t a movie meant to be dissected by critics. The effects are decent but not groundbreaking. Lighting, locations, and other technical issues play no part in making or breaking this romantic comedy. It is what it is: a fluffy escapist movie.
