"Far from 'Heaven,'
but Close Enough"
by Scott Mantz

"Just Like Heaven"
Reese Witherspoon, Mark Ruffalo
Directed by Mark Waters

A match made in...well, you know! Mark Ruffalo and Reese Witherspoon share bedtime stories in "Just Like Heaven"

There are two types of moviegoers in this world – those who will appreciate “Just Like Heaven” as a divine, moving and funny romantic comedy, and those who will find it trapped in chick-flick limbo by an overdose of corny, sappy sentimentality.  The former will mostly likely be made up of women and teenage girls, while the latter will mostly likely be made up of their husbands and boyfriends.

Either way, both will find it hard to resist Reese Witherspoon’s feisty, energetic performance, which ultimately makes the movie more entertaining than not.  After stumbling a bit with the over-the-top “Legally Blonde 2” and the laborious “Vanity Fair,” Witherspoon returns to the type of commercially accessible fluff that helped make 2002’s “Sweet Home Alabama” such a surprise hit.

This time, Witherspoon plays Elizabeth, a driven young San Francisco doctor who spends way too much time helping others and not nearly enough time helping herself.  When she finally does make time for a blind date, she's involved in a fatal car accident before she can get there.  Completely unaware of her new, otherworldly existence, she returns home to find that David (Mark Ruffalo) – an emotionally beaten man with problems of his own – is now subletting her apartment.  David cannot believe his eyes, and Elizabeth cannot believe her fate, yet both wind up needing each other in ways that neither could have possibly imagined.

No one can see Elizabeth except David, which results in the film's funnier, more appealing moments.  And while it’s far from being an original concept, director Mark Waters (“Freaky Friday,” “Mean Girls”) makes the most of this “Ghost”-like scenario by utilizing Witherspoon's comic timing and the charismatic, everyman quality that Mark Ruffalo effectively brought to the table in last year's “13 Going on 30.”  The ever-reliable Donal Logue also provides comic relief as Ruffalo's rowdy best friend, whose presence becomes even more crucial later in the game.

Witherspoon and Ruffalo make for a charming couple, and an urgent plot twist about midway through saves the movie from being totally predictable.  But Waters lays the sentimentality on a little too thick at times, and the results will either warm your heart or make you groan, depending on where you draw the line at being emotionally manipulated.

But regardless of such shameless button-pushing, maybe a movie like “Just Like Heaven” is just what we need right now.  With all the devastation dominating the headlines these days, there's nothing like a little escapism to warm your heart – especially when it takes the form of an endearing, innocent romantic comedy.  I'm sure that's something that everyone can agree on – whether they're women and teenage girls or their husbands and boyfriends.

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