First, the story presents the workaholic and altruistic Elizabeth Masterson (Reese Witherspoon) whose life surrounds the hospital where she works as a doctor.  In essence, she is a person too busy saving lives to live life.  When the film opens, she wakes up from a serene dream in the hospitals lunchroom while pushing over 26 hours of work (I know people like Elizabeth) . Meanwhile, her sister has set up a date for her with a stranger and she finds out that she is getting the attending position at the hospital that she desired.  However, before she starts her new position her boss requests that she goes home and gets some sleep.  On the way home, she continues her multitasking by talking on cell phone, driving, and setting the radio.  Unfortunately, it leads to a severe accident.

Shortly after, the film introduces the apartment seeking David Abbott (Mark Ruffalo).  However, finding a furnished apartment that suits David is a task easier than building the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.  After much difficulty, fate literally brings David the address of his future home, a cozy apartment with an amazing view over the San Francisco bay.  Through David’s acquisition of the apartment and getting familiar with the place it becomes clear that he agonizingly suffers deep within from loss.  It leads the viewer to deduct that David is preoccupied living in the past while mourning the dead, which suggests that he pretty much lives a hollow life.

Eventually, the story comes to the crossroads where the emotionally lost David encounters Elizabeth’s restless spirit.  At first, she tries to drive him out the apartment, as she is unaware of her physical condition and what has happened to her.  David responds with exorcism and Ghostbusters (yes, he really does), but without prevail.  A farce-like adventure brings the two together when David seeks help from the store clerk Darryl (Jon Heder) who we know from Napoleon Dynamite.  Heder’s small part is large enough to elevate the moment and shake the straightforward story line with a little situational humor, as he possess a unique ability to sense emotional and spiritual disturbances.  Together Elizabeth and David begin to seek what happened to Elizabeth, as she is oblivious about how she got to become a ghost.  The quest ends with a little story twist in the theme, which has frequented many news channels within the last two years.

The audience will easily foresee the love connection between Elizabeth and David that bears a resemblance to the Academy Award winning Ghost (1990) during the first half.  However, the first half transforms into an unintentional mutation between Ghost and While You Were Sleeping (1995) throughout the second half while still maintaining some of its own integrity.  In addition, the supporting cast enhances some of the cinematic experience, but it does not bring the film up to greatness.  Unfortunately, the film trips the audience into a pleasant experience where even the dreadfulness feels pleasant.  The zealously positive atmosphere only augments the awkwardness of the story, as the struggle that the two main characters suppose to undergo feels trivial and unimportant.  Lastly, the physical aspects of being a ghost provide some visual awkwardness such as Elizabeth walking through a table yet she can rest her head on a pillow.  I also wonder if ghosts throw shadows, as distinct as she does in the film, but this I can oversee.

Just Like Heaven deals with several fundamentally essential themes that concern human relations such as love, loneliness, forgiveness, understanding, and loss.  Despite the many flaws within the physical aspect of the film, I could not help myself from enjoying this film, as it filled me with hope and promise.  In addition, the characters Elizabeth and David utterly oozed of benevolence and unselfishness, which to me are crucial component in an improving society.  Thus, I must say, despite the many cinematic flaws and its cheesiness, this is a guilty-pleasure that I thoroughly enjoyed, as it left me inspired in a shallow, yet touching manner.

DIRECTED BY

COUNTRY

USA

Filmography links and data courtesy of