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In "Just Like Heaven," a man falls in love with a woman only he can see. She's not a ghost, because she's not dead, but a spirit. Why is she visible only to him? Perhaps because he has moved into her apartment. In a movie like this there is no logical reason for such matters. They simply are, and you accept them.

The woman is Elizabeth, played by Reese Witherspoon . The man is David, played by Mark Ruffalo . These are two of the sweetest actors in the movies, and sweetness is what they give their characters in "Just Like Heaven." There is not a mean bone in their bodies, and not a dark moment in the movie, unless of course you take the plot seriously, in which case it is deeply tragic.

Elizabeth is a young doctor at a San Francisco hospital. She is still single in her late 20s, and pulls 26-hour shifts in the emergency room. A friend despairs of her unmarried status and wants to fix her up. "I'm perfectly capable of meeting men on my own," she says. The friend: "I know you are. I just want you to meet one that's not bleeding."

David was a landscape gardener until two years ago, when his first wife Laura died suddenly. Now he drinks too much, and pays a lot of attention to the sofa he is sitting on at the moment. He's astonished when Elizabeth suddenly appears in the apartment, and orders him to stop making a mess of things.

Although a good long talk would clear up everything at any point during the movie, the talk is postponed because the movie must move toward happiness with agonizing reluctance. David, manifestly confronted with a supernatural presence, consults Darryl ( Jon Heder ), the clerk in a psychic bookstore. He brings in a priest for a painfully overacted exorcism. He employs Asian ghostbusters. Elizabeth taunts him about "Father Flanagan and the Joy Luck Club." But she lacks crucial knowledge about what has happened to her.

We meet her sister, her nieces, her co-workers, and the creepy doctor who took over her job when she became a spirit. Can Elizabeth and David, who are now in love, take steps to return her to a corporal existence that will make their relationship immeasurably more satisfactory? Can David's best buddy Jack ( Donal Logue ) help him with a little body-snatching? Can one movie support these many coincidences and close calls and misunderstandings?

Yes. The movie works, and so we accept everything, even the preposterous scene where a man is unconscious on the floor and Elizabeth tells David the man's lung is leaking air into his chest cavity, or whatever, and he must open a hole with a paring knife and keep it open with the plastic pour spout of a vodka bottle. As the chest is vented and the victim breathes again, I was poignantly reminded of the heart valve that gave Ignatius Reilly so much concern in A Confederacy of Dunces, that funniest of all novels from sad New Orleans.

I also liked the dialogue, by Peter Tolan and Leslie Dixon , as when it turns out that Elizabeth's little niece can also see her: "My fate is in the hands of a 4-year-old, who has seven other imaginary friends." And when she finally persuaded David to take her case: "You have two realities to choose from. The first is that a woman has come into your life in an very unconventional way and she needs your assistance. The second is that you're a crazy person, talking to himself on a park bench."

The Idiot Plot is a term devised for bad movies where the problems could be cleared up with a few words, if everyone in the plot were not an idiot. When the movie is good, it is kept afloat by the very frustration that sinks an Idiot Plot. There is a contest between what we want and what the characters do, and we get involved in spite of ourselves. Elizabeth explains perfectly clearly how her sister Abby ( Dina Spybey ) could be made to believe he is in touch with her spirit: She could tell David family secrets only Elizabeth would know. Wonderful, brilliant, and yet instead they mope about on hilltops with bittersweet regret. This woman could have been saved with days to spare, and there they are with the clock ticking.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Just Like Heaven (2005)

Rated PG-13 for some sexual content

Reese Witherspoon as Elizabeth

Mark Ruffalo as David Abbott

Donal Logue as Jack

Jon Heder as Darryl

Dina Spybey as Abby

Ben Shenkman as Brett

Ivana Milicevic as Katrina

Rosalind Chao as Fran

Directed by

• Mark Waters
• Peter Tolan
• Leslie Dixon

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Just Like Heaven

"Just Like Heaven" is as uneven as the topography of its San Francisco locales, but the amiable peaks mostly offset the flat stretches and valleys. A variation on a very old meet-cute theme with a touch of otherworldly romance, pic will need to tap deeply into the "Ghost" audience, given the dearth of laughs for manly men.

By Brian Lowry

Brian Lowry

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Considerably more mushy than madcap, “Just Like Heaven” is as uneven as the topography of its San Francisco locales, but the amiable peaks mostly offset the flat stretches and valleys. A variation on a very old meet-cute theme with a touch of otherworldly romance, pic will need to tap deeply into the “Ghost” audience, given the dearth of laughs for manly men. Otherwise, prospects of a robust box office life (and more likely, afterlife) rely almost entirely on the warming glow of Reese Witherspoon’s abundant charms.

Directed by Mark Waters, on something of a roll coming off “Mean Girls” and “Freaky Friday,” “Heaven” introduces Elizabeth (Witherspoon) as a driven young ER doctor whose work/personal balance is seriously out of whack. When hospital colleagues grouse about juggling such entanglements, one tells her she’s “lucky that all you worry about is work.”

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A fast-moving truck later and she’s suddenly appearing in spectral form, haunting the emotionally wounded David (Mark Ruffalo), who has sublet her apartment. David, it turns out, is sleepwalking through life following his wife’s death, and after trying to convince Elizabeth that she’s dead, gradually begins to form an attachment to her.

Pic is weakest through these early stages, as the pair go about trying to discover who Elizabeth is/was and what happened to her. There are some stabs at broader comedy here — and even wry references to the ghost(busting) of movie spirits past, since David, a la “Topper,” is the only one who can see Elizabeth, yielding merry mix-ups when he decides to meet his buddy Jack (Donal Logue) at the local pub.

For the most part, though, Peter Tolan and Leslie Dixon’s adaptation of Marc Levy’s novel hews toward the melancholy, propelled by the idea that David is every bit as much trapped between life and death as Elizabeth. And while it’s perhaps necessary to establish that anguish, Ruffalo’s performance proves so dour initially as he wallows in depression that it leeches some of the story’s vitality.

Just when the movie appears moribund, however, the narrative comes modestly alive thanks to a reasonably clever plot twist establishing a much-needed sense of jeopardy. And as evidenced by the teenage girls who audibly sighed at the more shamelessly romantic flourishes, the allure of an emotional connection that can overcome physical boundaries has a lucrative track record.

The irony here is that Waters was hired primarily for his comedic gifts, and delivers more pointedly on the dramatic front. Indeed, the main problem is there are too few laugh-out-loud sequences for what’s billed as a comedy, creating something of a marketing dilemma.

Witherspoon is such a winning presence as to help instill pathos in Elizabeth’s situation, but she isn’t displaying the buoyant personality that made the “Legally Blonde” franchise percolate. In her early encounters with David, rather, she comes across as something of a shrew.

Fortunately, the principals receive solid support in smallish roles from Logue, Dina Waters as Elizabeth’s sister and Ivana Milicevic as David’s seductive neighbor, with a disappointingly flat turn by “Napoleon Dynamite’s” Jon Heder as a half-baked occult bookstore dude from whom David solicits advice.

Effects-work nicely conveys Elizabeth’s wraithlike predicament — from popping up in the fridge to strolling through a table — which keeps Witherspoon in the same outfit for much of the film. Rolfe Kent delivers a score that captures the wistful tone without being cloying.

In a sense, then, Waters ultimately accomplishes the oldest of fairy tale tricks — generating just enough magic to rouse a slumbering movie from its trance, even if the final experience is something less than heaven.

• Production: A DreamWorks release of a Parkes/MacDonald production. Produced by Laurie MacDonald, Walter F. Parkes. Executive producer, David Householter. Co-producer, Marc Levy. Directed by Mark Waters. Screenplay, Peter Tolan, Leslie Dixon, based on the novel "If Only It Were True" by Marc Levy.
• Crew: Camera (Technicolor), Daryn Okada; editor, Bruce Green; music, Rolfe Kent; production designer, Cary White; art director, Maria Baker; set decorator, Barbara Haberecht; costume designer, Sophie de Rakoff; sound (Dolby Digital DTS SDDS), Douglas Axtell; visual effects supervisor, John Sullivan; associate producer, Veronica Brooks; assistant director, Benjamin Rosenberg; second unit director, David R. Ellis; stunt coordinators, Jimmy Romano, Rocky Capella; casting, Marci Liroff. Reviewed at the Avco Cinema, Los Angeles, Aug. 24, 2005. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 95 MIN.
• With: Elizabeth - Reese Witherspoon David - Mark Ruffalo Jack - Donal Logue Abby - Dina Waters Brett - Ben Shenkman Darryl - Jon Heder Katrina - Ivana Milicevic

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Just Like Heaven Review

30 Dec 2005

Just Like Heaven

Leave all logical reasoning at the cinema door and any cynicism at home and you’ll no doubt enjoy this 21st-century comedy twist on Ghost. Headlined by America’s sweetheart, Reese Witherspoon — who gets to display all the over-achieving, snippy mannerisms she’s perfected in movies like Sweet

Home Alabama and Election — it’s basically the story of a workaholic who finally gets a life when, erm, she’s not actually living anymore.

Yes, it seems in today’s busy work-first, social-life-later society, the only way Elizabeth can find true love is by having a head-on collision with a truck, then haunting the depressed tenant (Ruffalo) now living in her apartment until he falls for her. Which is all very predictable — and stuffed, of course, with just about every rom-com convention: the sceptical but supportive best friend (Donal Logue) with all the best lines; the quirky spiritualist (Napoleon Dynamite’s Jon Heder) as the only one who believes David; the misunderstandings involving a voluptuous neighbour; and various other confusions that would be cleared up in two minutes if the protagonists just sat down and had a proper conversation with each other. But there are some surprises here — just as love is finally on the way, director Mark Waters goes somewhere surprisingly darker, creating a final hurdle that our lovebirds must overcome on the road to happiness.

While it doesn’t entirely work — there are annoying little inconsistencies such as Elizabeth being ghostly enough to walk through walls and furniture, yet seemingly full enough of body to sit in a car — Waters moves things along at such a sprightly pace you almost don’t have time to notice (and, thankfully, he doesn’t pack the film with sappy bits, either), while the San Francisco locations, glistening in the sunlight, add to the fairy-tale feel.

Most enjoyable of all, though, is the fun chemistry between the likeable Witherspoon and brooding ‘serious’ actor Mark Ruffalo (who looks a lot more comfortable here than he did in his last

romantic comedy, 13 Going On 30). It’s their on-screen rapport and sweet romance that make this cute affair worth watching.

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• DVD & Streaming

Just Like Heaven

• Comedy , Romance

Content Caution

In Theaters

• Reese Witherspoon as Elizabeth Masterson; Mark Ruffalo as David Abbott; Dina Spybey (Mrs. Mark Waters) as Abby Brody; Donal Logue as Jack Houriskey; Ben Shenkman as Brett Rushton; Jon Heder as Darryl

Home Release Date

• Mark Waters

Distributor

Movie review.

Dr. Elizabeth Masterson is a fastidious workaholic at a San Francisco hospital. Married to marathon shifts and little else, this good-hearted, socially detached physician is on the brink of a career coup when a car accident cuts her plans short.

Several months later a young architect named David Abbott can’t seem to find a furnished apartment that meets his needs. Fate directs the grieving widower to Elizabeth’s pad, which her sister, Abby, wants to rent out on a month-to-month basis. It suits him. David settles in, only to get a shocking visit from the apartment’s previous tenant, a spooky stranger who, in a state of metaphysical flux, fails to realize that life has moved on without her.

Unaware that she’s been reduced to mere spirit, a perturbed Elizabeth insists that David vacate the premises immediately (or at least have the decency to use coasters). He refuses. She proceeds to pester him, but then softens as she gets to know him better. Likewise, he develops a reluctant respect for this intrusive presence, although most of the people around him think he’s cracking up. (Their inability to see or hear her yields humorous moments.) To complicate life further, since having transcended the mortal coil Elizabeth has no recollection of who she is, leading the odd couple on a quest to fill in the blanks. Their friendship grows, forcing them to confront new emotions, attractions … and revelations about Elizabeth’s condition.

Positive Elements

Elizabeth’s professional ethic is terrific. She cares more for her patients than for her own comforts. She’s smart, sensitive and sweats the details. She also shares playful moments with her nieces and, upon seeing a mother and child in the park, says wistfully, “I think I would’ve liked to have been a mom.” When David drowns his sorrows in beer, Elizabeth acts as his conscience, condemning his reliance on alcohol. David’s shapely neighbor is a sexually aggressive woman eager to sleep with him, yet he turns down this “sure thing.” Modesty inspires him to don shorts while showering after the spectral Elizabeth invades his privacy several times.

There’s an overriding theme of living life to the fullest and enjoying loved ones, because each day is a gift with no guarantee of what tomorrow will bring. The film condemns both workaholism and selfish ambition. Also, Elizabeth rediscovers who she is by hearing friends, family and co-workers talk about her, which will no doubt cause viewers to wonder what their own legacy might be if told by those close to them. With Elizabeth’s help, the squeamish David tries to save a man’s life with emergency surgery. With selflessness and creativity, David makes a grand romantic gesture to the woman he loves.

[ Spoiler Warning ] The strongest moral in the film involves a key plot twist. After assuming that Elizabeth must have been killed in the car wreck, we learn that she has simply been in a coma for the past three months. Dramatic tension arises when doctors try to convince her next of kin that keeping her on life support is fruitless and just “prolonging the inevitable.” The story (while taking quirky theological license) makes the point that, since we can’t know for sure the spiritual state of a comatose person, it’s dangerous to assume that they are less than fully alive. Formerly against being sustained by artificial means, Elizabeth is suddenly opposed to anyone pulling her plug, yet is helpless to alert them that she’s “still here.” Director Mark Waters isn’t preachy with this pro-life message. Still, the need to protect the humanity of people on life support comes through loud and clear.

Spiritual Elements

For Witherspoon’s character, this film is one long out-of-body experience. As long as she isn’t fully conscious or dead, her spirit is free to roam about in order to take care of “unfinished business.” She can reach into a person’s head and literally mess with his mind. In one scene she possesses David (think Lily Tomlin commandeering half of Steve Martin in All of Me ) to keep him from drinking.

Desperate for answers, David peruses books on the afterlife and even conducts a private séance to summon Elizabeth’s spirit. The film’s unorthodox spirituality pokes fun at Dan Aykroyd-style ghostbusters, Asian women conducting a cleansing ritual and a Catholic priest who repeats, “The power of Christ compels you” as he flings holy water aimlessly at an unseen target. The most tuned-in outsider is a New-Ager named Darryl (Jon Heder, adored by teens for his recent nerd-chic role as Napoleon Dynamite ). He can’t see Elizabeth, but accurately senses her moods and refers authoritatively to “dark” or “red” auras and deep secrets (“There’s this cancer-causing ray of spirit hate searing right toward your body”). Also, while Elizabeth’s young niece can’t see or hear her, she is instinctively aware of her presence.

When her life ebbs away at one point, Elizabeth’s image begins to fade into eternity. What’s on the other side is anyone’s guess (no discussions of God, heaven or hell), though when told to “walk into the light” she insists that there isn’t a light. Before her accident she has a strange dream that plays into the otherworldly events that follow. As romantic attraction builds, contact between the mortal David and the “hovering” Elizabeth generates a supernatural spark. A heartless doctor advising a wavering Abby to terminate life support says sometimes it’s “easier just to ask God for forgiveness than prolong the inevitable.”

Sexual Content

More gets implied or discussed than shown. It’s said that Abby was intimate with another man five minutes before her wedding. Elizabeth may have been having an affair with a married doctor. At first she’s disgusted by the possibility that she was “a lonely, home-wrecking slut,” but then rationalizes it by saying, “There’s nothing wrong with having a healthy sexual appetite.”

A flirtatious neighbor wears provocative clothing and wheedles her way into David’s apartment to proposition him. After focusing on her chest and low-slung pants, the camera follows her to the door of David’s bedroom where she undresses out of view and tosses her underwear into the hallway. Wearing only a towel, she drops it and reveals herself to David. Elizabeth tells him to go ahead and sleep with the woman (fortunately he doesn’t). For her last night on earth, Elizabeth elects to lie in bed and “connect” with David, though the intimacy is more symbolic than physical. A couple make out in a broom closet. David and Elizabeth kiss.

Violent Content

David punches an antagonist in the face. Guards wrestle a man to the floor. Abby threatens David with a meat cleaver. Elizabeth’s car is hit by an oncoming truck (implied), severely injuring her. Her spirit accidentally lunges through a top-floor apartment window and is heard plummeting to earth.

Crude or Profane Language

More than two-dozen profanities, nearly half being exclamations of “oh my god.” There are also isolated uses of the s-word, “Jesus,” “a–hole” and an extended middle finger.

Drug and Alcohol Content

A crazed man receives a sedative. Elizabeth habitually gets jacked up on caffeine to function at work. David drinks a lot of beer, in part to drown the pain of having lost his wife to a brain hemorrhage. At one point he admits he was wasted. He chugs vodka for strength. He orders a double scotch at a bar. Although Elizabeth chides him for consuming so much alcohol, she later sees a photo of herself taken when she and her sister were plastered on margaritas, and recalls it was “more fun than I ever had in my life.” David’s pal tells him he should drink heavily at a party because, “God gave us alcohol as a social lubricant to make men brave and women loose.”

Other Negative Elements

A shot hones in on statues’ bare bottoms. An elderly hospital patient has his naked backside exposed when his gown opens. Noble ends excuse dishonesty, theft and reckless driving.

The talented Mark Ruffalo and Reese Witherspoon share an everyman chemistry that works nicely in Just Like Heaven . They lift otherwise drippy, saccharine moments to a more tolerable level, making this often sweet supernatural feature one that could appeal to fans of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir and, more recently, Ghost . Still, I was left with a few questions. For example, why is it that Elizabeth’s spirit won’t interact with solid matter (she walks through walls and isn’t able to pick up objects), yet she can sit on a park bench without falling through it? Hmmm.

But that’s a forgivable inconsistency. Other aspects of the film are harder to manage. First, there’s rampant theological foolishness, at times peddled with subtle stoner flair by Heder. Then there’s the language, alcohol use and sexual humor. Why go there? Like Waters’ Mean Girls, this well-intentioned film has a good soul and snatches of moral conscience—not to mention a pleasant bioethical surprise. But objectionable content will alienate the very audience sure to give its virtues a standing-O. Just like heaven? Hardly, though a few moments border on the divine.

Bob Smithouser

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Just Like Heaven (United States, 2005)

With Just Like Heaven , director Mark Waters ( Mean Girls ) wants to have his cake and eat it to. That's not necessarily a bad thing, until you consider that the recipe used for this confection is missing a few ingredients and the final product is half-baked. And, rather than eating it, he kind of chokes on it. Just Like Heaven tries to be an unholy union of Ghost and All of Me , and the result is rarely humorous, rarely romantic, and rarely affecting. Plus, the suspension of disbelief curve is so steep that even Lance Armstrong wouldn't be able to make it to the top.

Just Like Heaven is supposed to be a ghost story, but not of the kind that are popular with horror audiences. Elizabeth Martinson (Reese Witherspoon) is a hard-working doctor who puts in 26-hour days while subsisting primarily on coffee. One rainy night, on the way home from the hospital, her car has a head-on encounter with a truck. When next we meet Elizabeth, she's a spirit haunting her old apartment, which is now occupied by David Abbott (Mark Ruffalo), a morose man who always has a beer in one hand. Eventually, David comes to realize that Elizabeth is a ghost, and Elizabeth acknowledges that she might no longer be amongst the living. The two team up to discover: (1) what happened to Elizabeth, and (2) why David is the only one who can see her.

The movie starts cheating the audience early, and never lets up. It finds a contrived way to get around the problem of a romance between a human and a spirit, then keeps the cheap twists coming. There's no internal logic. Elizabeth can't touch a telephone, but when she lies on a bed, her head makes an indentation in a pillow. The ghostly rules in this movie are changed and warped as it suits the filmmakers. When revealed, the explanation of why David can see Elizabeth makes no sense. And the final scene is the ultimate insult. In order for this film to work, you have to be willing to swallow crater-sized plot holes

There are a few nice individual scenes, but most of what Just Like Heaven has to offer is pure pabulum. On those occasions when it goes for comedy, the scenes are strident and overdone. Donal Logue has a small part as David's best friend - he's on hand mainly for "humorous" one-liners. Napoleon Dynamite 's Jon Heder plays a stoned-out mystic. I think we're expected to laugh at this character because he's played by Jon Heder. Nothing he says or does is amusing in its own right.

It's as if Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo ignored the stupidity of the screenplay and did their best to convince us that they're two people falling in love. The illusion sometimes works - usually when it's just the two of them, sharing a quiet moment. Based on past experience, we know that Witherspoon can do this kind of movie. And, adding this to 13 Going on 30 , we can assume that Ruffalo understands what's needed to be a lead in a romantic comedy.

Movies about supernatural relationships can be fertile ground for rich, involving motion pictures. Perhaps it’s the shallowness of Just Like Heaven 's approach that I find disappointing. Instead of playing off the strengths of the premise, the filmmaking team turns those strengths into weaknesses and eviscerates the underlying idea. In appealing to the heart, Just Like Heaven forgets that viewers also have minds.

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FILM REVIEW

A Wonderful Afterlife, but Must Share Bath

By A.o. Scott

• Sept. 16, 2005

"Just Like Heaven," directed by Mark Waters from a script by Peter Tolan and Leslie Dixon, is a metaphysical second-chance comedy, the kind of movie in which the laws of time and space are bent to give characters access to self-knowledge unavailable in ordinary circumstances. The genre has a long and varied history, going back at least to "It's a Wonderful Life" and including "Ghost," "Big" and the many versions of "Heaven Can Wait." These movies always risk a certain sentimentality, but at their best -- "Groundhog Day," "All of Me," Mr. Waters's splendid remake of "Freaky Friday" -- they leaven teary lesson-learning with a whimsical delight in the ridiculous.

"Just Like Heaven," which stars Reese Witherspoon as an ambitious San Francisco doctor and Mark Ruffalo as a mopey fellow who sublets her apartment, is a bit too thin and gooey to be counted among such classics. Given its somewhat morbid premise, though, it is also impressively nimble and cheery. At the beginning, Elizabeth Masterson (Ms. Witherspoon) completes a marathon emergency room shift (compressed by Mr. Waters and his brilliant editor, Bruce Green, into a tour de force of breakneck comic exposition) and is promptly involved in a car accident. A bit later, Elizabeth -- or rather her immaterial but nonetheless talkative spirit -- barges in on David Abbott (Mr. Ruffalo), who has been shuffling around her old home, drinking beer and glancing at her spectacular views of the city and its bay. What, she wants to know, is he doing in her apartment? He asks her the same question.

Their initial encounters suggest "The Goodbye Girl" redone as a ghost story. Elizabeth, being the ghost in question, does not hang her underwear on the shower curtain to dry, but she does have a habit of walking into the bathroom when David is showering. If the two of them were a single person, you might describe that person as passive-aggressive, but as it is, Ms. Witherspoon, scolding and blustering, sees to the aggression, while Mr. Ruffalo, once again, turns passivity into an unlikely form of charm. After a while, predictably but winningly, their oil-and-water coexistence emulsifies into love, and they join forces to figure out just what happened to Elizabeth, whose memory of her physical life is conveniently cloudy.

The two of them are not hard to like. Ms. Witherspoon sheds the mock ditziness she experimented with in the "Legally Blonde" movies, and in the early scenes (which might have been called "Medically Blonde"), she rediscovers the chipper steeliness of Tracey Filck in "Election," her first great comic role. In some ways, Elizabeth, who must be both mockable and lovable, is a greater challenge, but Ms. Witherspoon is up to it. And Mr. Ruffalo, with his stoner drawl and his sad-sack gallantry, is an ideal foil.

Adapted from a novel by the French spiritual writer Marc Levy, "Just Like Heaven" spins its fluffy conceits in the crossfire of the American culture wars. Without giving too much away, I will note that the movie performs the astonishing feat of taking the contentious issues surrounding the life and death of Terri Schiavo and turns them into the stuff of farce. Mr. Waters must have the lightest touch in Hollywood, an enviable and perhaps unnerving ability to wring belly laughs out of grief, ethical difficulty and medical horror.

The supporting cast certainly helps, in particular Donal Logue, who plays David's friend and therapist; Jon Heder (the goofy hero of "Napoleon Dynamite") as his unlikely spiritual adviser; and Dina Waters as Elizabeth's older sister. They all perform with a liveliness that keeps the more mawkish elements of the story at bay, though these inevitably assert themselves at the end, when the camera lens seems to be submerged in corn syrup, and lumps rise, on cue, in throats. It's not heaven, exactly, but after the purgatory of the late summer movie season, it may be close enough.

"Just Like Heaven" is rated PG-13. It has some mild profanity and fairly tame hints of sexuality.

Just Like Heaven Opens today nationwide.

Directed by Mark Waters; written by Peter Tolan and Leslie Dixon, based on the novel "If Only It Were True," by Marc Levy; director of photography, Daryn Okada; edited by Bruce Green; music by Rolfe Kent; production designer, Cary White; produced by Laurie MacDonald and Walter F. Parkes; released by DreamWorks Pictures. Running time: 95 minutes. This film is rated PG-13.

WITH: Reese Witherspoon (Elizabeth), Mark Ruffalo (David), Donal Logue (Jack), Dina Waters (Abby), Ben Shenkman (Brett) and Jon Heder (Darryl).

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Just like heaven, common sense media reviewers.

Quirky romantic comedy with a dark-ish premise.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Car crash at start is abrupt, but not explicitly s

Some conversation about sex; woman appears in reve

Mild language.

References to coffee styles (not brands), Ghostbus

Characters drink (beer in front of tv; one scene i

Parents need to know that this romantic comedy begins with a harrowing (though briefly shown) car accident, leaving a young woman apparently dead. She reappears as a neat-freak ghost in her old apartment, harassing the lonely garden designer who's moved in. Characters drink (at home, in a bar). A woman neighbor…

Violence & Scariness

Car crash at start is abrupt, but not explicitly shown.

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Sex, Romance & Nudity

Some conversation about sex; woman appears in revealing "exercise" outfit; woman in a towel drops it (view from her back); joke about "lubricant."

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Products & Purchases

References to coffee styles (not brands), Ghostbusters , Heineken.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Characters drink (beer in front of tv; one scene in a bar).

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Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this romantic comedy begins with a harrowing (though briefly shown) car accident, leaving a young woman apparently dead. She reappears as a neat-freak ghost in her old apartment, harassing the lonely garden designer who's moved in. Characters drink (at home, in a bar). A woman neighbor tries to seduce David by undressing in his apartment. The film also includes images of ghosts and spells in an "occult" book. Doctors and family discuss whether to continue life support for a woman in a coma. While most of the movie is light-hearted, it raises a serious question: how do you decide when to turn off life support for a loved one? To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (4)
• Kids say (9)

Based on 4 parent reviews

Don’t ban stories just don’t be afraid to call attention to stereotypes in books or film with the kids.

Very cute romantic comedy, what's the story.

Workaholic doctor Elizabeth ( Reese Witherspoon ) is slightly yearning; her friends have relationships, her sister Abby (Dina Waters) has two adorable daughters, and yet, Elizabeth can't seem to develop a life outside work. One night, she crashes into a truck; shortly afterwards, her apartment is rented by lonely, sensitive, landscape designer David ( Mark Ruffalo ). The only issue for this perfect guy is that he's mourning a lost wife, and so meeting the seeming ghost of Elizabeth gives him a built-in friend. As time goes on it becomes clear that they're made for each other, save for the small obstacle of her seeming deadness. David gets encouragement when an occult bookstore clerk ( Jon Heder ) suggests that for a spirit, she's very "alive," that is, caught between death and life.

Is It Any Good?

JUST LIKE HEAVEN is a Sleeping Beauty story refashioned to combine upbeat rom-com conventions and ER -lite medical-ethical dilemmas. It poses a grim question: Should a very nice young mother of two pull the life-support plug on her sister after three months of coma? It's a preposterous idea to cram into a romance.

And, while director Mark Waters is working with the completely charming and mostly convincing Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo, even this talented trio can't make this creepy perfect-ghost-girl idea go away. That doesn't mean they don't try.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the relationship between the sisters, as this creates the eventual dilemma/climax, as to whether Elizabeth should be taken off life support. How are they both loving and competitive, jealous and supportive? You might also consider the film's use of romantic comedy structures (boy meets girl, etc.) in relation to the ethical and even spiritual questions it poses, concerning life, death, and grief.

Movie Details

• In theaters : September 16, 2005
• On DVD or streaming : February 7, 2006
• Cast : Dina Waters , Mark Ruffalo , Reese Witherspoon
• Director : Mark Waters
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : DreamWorks
• Genre : Comedy
• Run time : 95 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : some sexual content
• Last updated : May 9, 2024

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Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Just Like Heaven

Not quite as bad as Cheaper by the Dozen 2 is Just Like Heaven. It's the latest movie in a tradition of romantic ghost stories that stretches from The Ghost Goes West and the Topper comedies of the Thirties through The Ghost and Mrs Muir in the Forties to the big 1990 hit, Ghost, of which this is a distaff version. The appealingly dishevelled Mark Ruffalo plays a traumatised widower of great sensitivity who rents a marvellous apartment in San Francisco belonging to workaholic doctor Reese Witherspoon.

In the first 10 minutes, we've seen her involved in a horrendous crash on her way home from a 27-hour stint at the hospital. She's now in a coma three months after the accident, and her spirit turns up to haunt the flat and fall in love with Ruffalo.

The movie is cute rather than witty. The rules of haunting are established, only to be broken whenever it suits the plot to do so. And the picture ends up endorsing the most right-wing views on the pulling of plugs that artificially sustain the lives of people in a permanent vegetative state.

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Most viewed

Just Like Heaven (2005)

Just like heaven.

From Mark Waters, the director of “Mean Girls” and “Freaky Friday,” comes the new romantic comedy “Just Like Heaven,” starring Reese Witherspoon (“Legally Blonde,” “Vanity Fair”) and Mark Ruffalo (“13 Going on 30,” “Collateral”). When David (Mark Ruffalo) sublet his quaint San Francisco apartment, the last thing he expected -- or wanted -- was a roommate. He had only begun to make a complete mess of the place when a pretty young woman named Elizabeth (Reese Witherspoon) suddenly shows up, adamantly insisting the apartment is hers. David assumes there’s been a giant misunderstanding…until Elizabeth disappears as mysteriously as she appeared. Changing the locks does nothing to deter Elizabeth, who begins to appear and disappear at will -- mostly to rebuke David for his personal living habits in her apartment. Convinced that she is a ghost, David tries to help Elizabeth cross over to the “other side.” But while Elizabeth has discovered she does have a distinctly ethereal quality -- she can walk through walls -- she is equally convinced that she is somehow still alive and isn’t crossing over anywhere. As Elizabeth and David search for the truth about who Elizabeth is and how she came to be in her present state, their relationship deepens into love. Unfortunately, they have very little time before their prospects for a future together permanently fade away.

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Review | Just Like Heaven at the Rose Bowl

Goldenvoice Music Festival Brings Millennials and Indie Rock Fans to Pasadena

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Just Like Heaven isn’t just the name of one of The Cure’s hit songs, it’s the one-day music festival presented by Coachella producer Goldenvoice. The fourth installment of the indie-alt-rock festival hosted performances throughout a jam-packed day, which was held at the Brookside at the Rose Bowl on May 18 in sunny Pasadena. Brookside, a 36-hole golf complex, gave plenty of room for the large crowds to spaciously groove to the songs many millennials grew up downloading on to their iPods.

The lineup featured The Postal Service, Phoenix, Death Cab for Cutie, The War on Drugs, Miike Snow, Passion Pit, Alvvays, Two Door Cinema Club, Phantogram, Metric, Gossip, Washed Out, and more. The nostalgia for millennials was a quintessential high school reunion for their favorite 2000’s alt rock bands and electro dance music. Just Like Heaven (JLH) featured two stages, along with a unique dance club hosted by Los Angeles based travel-party group, A Club Called Rhona.

I managed to catch more than half of the artists performing, which meant going back and forth between two stages. The walk from the Orion stage (main stage) to the Stardust stage (secondary stage) took about five minutes, which allowed festival goers easy access to catch simultaneous performances on a beautiful 73 degree day. Vendors were abundant, selling a diverse array of food and drink options, along with JLH merchandise that came in handy when the temperature dropped at night.

A highlight performance from Phantogram, the New York duo of Sara Barthal and Josh Carter had the crowd jumping early to some of their biggest hits; “Black Out Days,” “Fall in Love,” “When I’m Small.” They also debuted a new single, “All A Mystery”, which will be featured on their brand new album. Phantogram, opening for Kings of Leon on their upcoming tour, will be playing at the Santa Barbara Bowl on August 26. “The tour will be focused on promoting our new album coming in the fall,” Carter said.

The Orion stage kept the party pumping as Two Door Cinema Club and Passion Pit performed a line-up of nostalgic indie rock songs. Two Door Cinema Club played hits such as, “What You Know,” “Undercover Martyn,” and “I Can Talk,” from their popular 2010 album Tourist History. Passion Pit ended their set with their hit single, “Take a Walk,” which in fact had no one walking, but instead had the crowd dancing and jumping into the sunset.

As the sun settled into the night, Death Cab for Cutie was up and performed their 2003 album, Transatlanticism , in its entirety. Phoenix took the stage right after and had the crowd singing along to their hit tracks, “1901” and “Lisztomania” from their popular 2009 album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix . The last act on the Stardust stage was The War on Drugs, which was my personal favorite performance of the day. With drums that packed a punch, both acoustic and electric guitars, steady bass lines paired with amazing vocals from frontman Adam Grandiciel. I was hypnotized by their performance from start to finish. Headliner The Postal Service closed out the day on the Orion stage by playing their platinum selling album Give Up, and finished their set with an encore performance covering Depeche Mode’s, “Enjoy the Silence.”

Goldenvoices’s streak of high-level concert production continues throughout the rest of 2024. Billing some great acts here at our very own Santa Barbara Bowl, including Pentatonix, Totally Tubular Festival, Cage the Elephant, along with a host of other shows throughout Northern and Southern California. Be on the lookout for one of their newer music festivals, Portola, which will be held in the San Francisco Bay Area’s Pier 80 in September. Portola will feature some of the best electronic music acts in today’s musicscape such as Gesaffelstien, Justice, Rufus Du Sol, and more.

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Just Like Heaven

• A lonely landscape architect falls for the spirit of the beautiful woman who used to live in his new apartment.
• Elizabeth Masterson, a dedicated doctor in San Francisco, had almost no time for anything. When she gets into a tragic car crash and goes into a coma, a landscape architect moves into Elizabeth's apartment for rent - where he meets her amnesiac ethereal form. — kayleigh
• Elizabeth works too much to have time for a boyfriend, but that doesn't stop her sister setting her up on a blind date. On the way home she gets into an accident and enters a three month coma. While in the coma, her apartment becomes available for sublet. A landscaper, David, who has lost his wife and basically drinks himself to sleep, moves into Elizabeth's apartment. At first David believes she is a hallucination, but as time goes on they realize the truth. Only David can see and hear Elizabeth. Eventually they fall for each other, but things take a turn for the worse when the hospital and Elizabeth's sister follow her wishes to not artificially prolong life and take her off life support. — Kris Hopson
• Elizabeth Masterson is a dedicated, workaholic doctor who is way too busy for a life. One night, she gets into a horrible car accident and becomes a spirit stuck between heaven and earth. She doesn't know she's dead and thinks nothing has happened until she meets David Abbot, a lonely architect, who rents her old apartment. David thinks he's crazy by seeing Elizabeth's spirit and tries all ways to get rid of her, but she just won't go away. Although the two are complete opposites they somehow may just form a relationship. — Anynomous
• Elizabeth Masterson is a doctor with a life of work, devoid of joy. An accident renders her as a spirit, forcing her to live something she has avoided: downtime. As she can no longer occupy her apartment, it's been given to David Abbott, a good but lonely landscape artist who has caught the ire of Elizabeth. Unwilling to give up her place to David, she haunts him as a bitter spirit, but he's not going to back down from his new home. As these two continually fight, they might just be attracted to each other. — mystic80
• Opening scene: Dr. Elizabeth Masterson (Witherspoon) sits in a pleasant-looking garden surrounded by fog. The camera pans in around the fog and finally to her chair that is completely out of place in the elegant setting. Elizabeth wakes up in a hospital break room/cafeteria where she is told that she fell asleep and needs to go home because she has been there 23 hours. She replies that she can't because she needs to keep working if she wants to get the attending physician slot. A montage of her working around the hospital begins. She is obviously good at her job and good with the people she attends. During this time we meet her rival at work, Brett, and learn that they are competing for the attending physician slot. We also learn that her sister is expecting her over for dinner and that dinner was set up for her to meet someone. Once she's off the phone, she and Brett run into their boss, Dr. Walsh. Dr. Walsh informs them that there was a gunshot victim whom they both volunteer to take, but since Brett has "only" been there 12 hours, he'll get to take it. After Brett leaves, Dr. Walsh informs Elizabeth that, because of her skilled work and genuine care for the patients, she will get the attending physician slot. He then tells her that 26 hours is enough and that she needs to go home. As she leaves, she sees Brett in the parking lot. There is a good deal of tension between them as he reluctantly congratulates her on her being picked for the job. While on her way over to her sister's house for the dinner, she calls her sister to apologize for running late. Her sister, Abby, says it's ok because her date hasn't shown up yet. Just then, she sees a truck coming towards her and the screen fades to black. Cut to David Abbot (Ruffalo) as he searches for a fully furnished apartment to lease. His pushy realtor keeps showing him very odd apartments. As they are just about to give up, wind pushes a flier into his face about an apartment they hadn't seen yet. They go to it and see that it is a nice apartment still on the market because it is being leased on a month-by-month basis due to some mysterious circumstances. David decides it's perfect anyways. We now see David sitting around and drinking beer. He doesn't seem to be doing anything else with his days. One day while watching TV, Elizabeth shows up and tells David to leave her apartment. They argue and Elizabeth goes to call the police. David follows her into the next room, but when he gets there, she has disappeared. David goes and sees his friend, John, who is also his shrink, because he believes he is hallucinating. John tells him that he just needs to get out and that these hallucinations will go away. David decides not to go out and instead continues to be lazy and drink beer. He sees Elizabeth a few more times and begins to think that she may be the ghost of someone who used to live there. He visits an occult bookstore where he meets Darryl (Heder: Napoleon from Napoleon Dynamite). Darryl gives him some books to read and David goes home to confront Elizabeth. Unable to convince Elizabeth that she is a ghost (with Elizabeth trying to annoy David to the point where he'll leave), David hires some people to get rid of the spirit. First is a priest, then some Asian women performing a ceremony, then some tacky "Ghostbusters" and finally Darryl. Darryl says he can feel Elizabeth and that she is so strong a spirit that she may not be dead. Darryl also tells David he needs to let go of the spirit that's hunting him - his wife who has passed away. Darryl leaves and Elizabeth presses David about his wife. Apparently, it has been two years since she died and David still has trouble moving on. David is upset by the conversation and decides to go get drunk with his friend John. Elizabeth follows and forces him out of the bar he went to by possessing him. She then says she needs help finding out what happened to her because she can't remember; David says he will help because, otherwise, he would be admitting he was talking to someone who wasn't there and thereby admitting to insanity. They start by visiting all the neighbors and asking about Elizabeth. None of them really knew her but one girl begins hitting on David. They follow some other clues and find out that Elizabeth is in a coma in the hospital where she worked. Also during this time, David explains that he was once a successful landscape architect who specialized in gardens and they go to see some of his work. The garden they visit is the one that Elizabeth dreamt about at the beginning of the movie. After they find Elizabeth's body, David goes home while Elizabeth decides to stay with it. Able to walk through walls, Elizabeth checks in on some of her friends and finds that Brett, her rival from the beginning of the movie, got the attending physician slot. Abby, Elizabeth's sister, comes in to visit and learns that Elizabeth had a living will, but the decision to let her die will be left up to her. Elizabeth rushes back to the apartment to find the neighbor girl there putting the moves on David. The neighbor girl goes into the bedroom and asks David to come in. Elizabeth is a bit dejected and goes to wait on the roof until David is done. David shows up on the roof saying he sent the neighbor girl home. Elizabeth tells David that she originally got the apartment so she could put a garden on the roof. David says that he won't let Elizabeth die. They first go talk to Darryl, who tells them not to try to figure out how to put Elizabeth back in her body and why only David can see her. They then visit Abby's house to convince her not to sign the paper work, but she already has and ends up chasing David out with a butcher knife when he says he can see Elizabeth's spirit. With Elizabeth slated to die in the morning, Elizabeth asks David to just stay up and talk with her. In the morning, David says he will steal Elizabeth's body so that they can put it somewhere safe, because he won't let her die. Elizabeth says, in order to even have a chance to do that, they need someone with a van and no morals. Next shot, David drives John's van en route to the hospital. Once there, David explains that his imaginary friend is actually alive and ably convinces John of this because John knew Abby. In fact, David was suppose to be the blind date at the dinner Elizabeth was going to, but David got cold feet and Elizabeth got in the car accident. As John and David steal Elizabeth's body, Brett stops them. David ends up punching Brett out and getting security called on him. While John and David flee security, the respirator keeping Elizabeth alive gets pulled out. As she starts to die, her spirit starts to fade. In a last effort, David kisses Elizabeth, which brings her spirit back, but he is quickly pulled off by security. Elizabeth's spirit fades as David watches. Then, her body comes back to life and she wakes up (a sleeping beauty awakened by a kiss). Seeing that David was able to bring Elizabeth back to life, they let him go, but Elizabeth doesn't remember David. David leaves looking very depressed. Enter another montage where both Elizabeth and David look sad. When the montage ends, Elizabeth moves back into her apartment, which David has to leave since he only had it on a month-to-month basis. She says it feels like something is missing but can't figure out what. While looking around, Elizabeth goes up to the roof where David is just finishing up her beautiful new garden. David says that he just wanted her to have her garden and that he used the spare key that she had told him about when she was a "ghost." Elizabeth says she knows him but can't remember from where. David says he doesn't want to scare her and begins to leave but stops to hand back the spare key. When they touch, Elizabeth remembers everything and they kiss. The camera pans up and the apartment turns into a snow globe in Darryl's hands, who says, "Righteous."

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