Just Like Heaven
Review by Clint Morris
Much like having Larry Perkins and Steven Richards race dodgem
cars at the Bathurst 1000 race at Mt Panorama, Reese Witherspoon
and Mark Ruffalo’s latest vehicle isn’t a match
for their talent.
Still, that doesn’t mean the vehicle isn’t going
to be in better hands because they are behind the wheel.
Fluffier than lightly-cooked scrambled eggs and as studio
as Mike Medavoy, Just Like Heaven sings from a archetypal
Hollywood lyric-sheet, but with the great Witherspoon and
Ruffalo keeping tabs on the notes it is something so much
satisfying and sweeter than it might otherwise have been.
The story can be summed up quicker than it takes to depress
this caps lock key: a man moves into an apartment and discovers
the spirit of the previous tenant is still floating about.
Eventually, they realise that she’s not actually dead
- she’s in a coma, and he’s the only that’s
going to be able to help her wake up.
You’ve seen it all before, and it’s nothing that’s
going to challenge either the audience or actors (Witherspoon
and Ruffalo are much better than this - but you do have to
do these ‘money’ movies sometimes if you want to
do the ‘meatier’ stuff) but at the same time, it
isn’t a bad movie. There’s enough "awww,"
"ahhhh," and "yay" moments in there to
keep any full-price paying moviegoer happy, and Witherspoon
and Ruffalo have some real sparks.
If they are going to keep squeezing these paint-by-numbers
style rom-coms out, hopefully they can entice real talent
to do them. Like gravy on hot chips - it’s so much better
then.
3 out of 5
Just Like Heaven
Australian release: Monday the 26th of December, 2005.
Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Mark Ruffalo, Jon Heder, Donal
Logue, Dina Spybey.
Director: Mark S. Waters.
Website: Click
here.
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