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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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Film credits.

Just Like Heaven (2005)

Rated PG-13 for some sexual content

Reese Witherspoon as Elizabeth

Dina Spybey as Abby

Ben Shenkman as Brett

Mark Ruffalo as David Abbott

Ivana Milicevic as Katrina

Jon Heder as Darryl

Donal Logue as Jack

Rosalind Chao as Fran

Directed by

• Mark Waters
• Peter Tolan
• Leslie Dixon

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Metacritic reviews

Just like heaven.

• 70 The Hollywood Reporter Sheri Linden The Hollywood Reporter Sheri Linden Crossing the life-death divide, Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo are a winning pair in this smart and tender comedy.
• 67 Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum That Just Like Heaven succeeds at all - at least for teenage girls with limited interest in the drafting of living wills - is due entirely to Witherspoon's can-do charisma.
• 63 Miami Herald Connie Ogle Miami Herald Connie Ogle The film, which comes way too close to preaching, lurches away from the control of director Mark Waters (Mean Girls, Freaky Friday) and ends on a stretched-out note so sappy it makes "Must Love Dogs" look like "8 Mile."
• 60 Variety Brian Lowry Variety Brian Lowry 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.
• 50 The A.V. Club Scott Tobias The A.V. Club Scott Tobias Part of the problem is Mark Ruffalo, whose tortured sensitivity in "You Can Count On Me" and "We Don't Live Here Anymore" made him seem like Marlon Brando's heir apparent, not Will Smith's.
• 50 Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson Unfortunately, the movie fails to fully make sense, which may be because it's based on a French novel (If Only It Were True by Marc Levy).
• 40 L.A. Weekly Scott Foundas L.A. Weekly Scott Foundas The usually zippy and subversive director Mark Waters (Freaky Friday, Mean Girls) plays things straight and suffocatingly sentimental - which actually makes the whole movie seem that much creepier.
• 38 ReelViews James Berardinelli ReelViews James Berardinelli The movie starts cheating the audience early, and never lets up.
• 38 Chicago Tribune Allison Benedikt Chicago Tribune Allison Benedikt A huge waste of talent (Witherspoon's) and time (ours), a supernatural romantic comedy that is neither romantic, comedic, super or natural.
• 38 Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey A groaningly awful romantic comedy.
• See all 31 reviews on Metacritic.com
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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.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

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."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

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).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

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 : March 17, 2024

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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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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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• 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

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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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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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Just Like Heaven (2005)

Watching Just Like Heaven , a romantic-comedy ghost story of sorts from director Mark Waters ( Mean Girls , Freaky Friday ) starring Reese Witherspoon ( Vanity Fair ) and Mark Ruffalo ( 13 Going on 30 ), I was repeatedly reminded of one of the better romantic comedies of the last five years: Bonnie Hunt’s 2000 charmer Return to Me .

Artistic/Entertainment Value

Moral/spiritual value, age appropriateness, mpaa rating, caveat spectator.

Both Just Like Heaven and Return to Me are winsome romantic comedies with at least a hint of the supernatural, and address death and loss as well as love and laughter. Both are wiser than the average date movie about the temptation to withdraw from life and human relationships in the face of grief, and also about the annoyance of well-meaning friends trying to draw one out for one’s own good.

Both films are also chaste romances about a couple who fall in love without tumbling into the sack. Indeed, this isn’t even a possibility in Just Like Heaven (though the film does include some decidedly unchaste behavior from a supporting character, as well as a good bit of rude dialogue.)

What Return to Me has that Just Like Heaven doesn’t is its affectionately depicted context of Irish-Italian culture and Catholic piety. On the other hand, while Return to Me has raised problems for some Catholics with respect to moral issues of life and death , perhaps the most remarkable thing about Just Like Heaven is its distinctly life-affirming, even pro-life twist with respect to end-of-life issues. Here is a light comedy that — without remotely getting maudlin or morbid — dramatizes how

• a person not yet incapacitated is in no position to sign away life-sustaining measures in case they should ever become incapacitated, since what they would actually want under the circumstances may well be completely different from how they feel now;
• incapacitated patients may be more aware of events around them than we might give them credit for;
• doctors who compassionately counsel pulling the plug may not be giving family members the straight facts; and
• family members need to resist such pressure and defend the rights of their loved ones.

Waters’ previous hit comedies, Mean Girls and Freaky Friday , each had their problems, but boasted smart scripts and assured direction as well as solid performances from talented stars. Just Like Heaven may be lighter and more formulaic than his earlier films, but it has the same basic strengths.

The film benefits greatly from its appealing stars, Witherspoon and Ruffalo. Witherspoon, especially, shines as Elizabeth, a dedicated but overworked young ER doctor who has no life outside the hospital walls, until that life is taken away from her in a way she can’t understand.

Ruffalo brings brooding charisma to the role of David, a withdrawn young man who seems to have no connection to anything or anything, except that he seems to have a connection somehow to Elizabeth, who mysteriously appears out of nowhere in his apartment — or is he in her apartment? No one knows but Darryl ( Napoleon Dynamite ’s Jon Heder in a similarly surreal supporting role), a kind of stoner Zen-talking clerk in an occult bookstore (he’s sort of the counterpart to Whoopi Goldberg’s character in Ghost ).

The themes of the workaholic professional who needs to find a life outside the workplace and the withdrawn loner who needs to rejoin the human race are common ones in comedies, but they’re developed here with more conviction than usual. The script is smarter than the typical rom-com, and Waters directs cannily, never letting either the emotion or the comedy get out of control. (A late-breaking plot twist had the potential to go completely off the rails, but Waters gets exactly as much humor out of it as possible and then stops.)

Plotwise, the film is refreshingly clever about the dilemma of characters dealing with an extraordinary situation that they will have trouble convincing other people is real. I appreciate the forethought David puts into what he will need to say to one of Elizabeth’s relatives in order to persuade her that he isn’t crazy — and also how the conversation doesn’t quite go as planned.

It’s not without drawbacks. In contrast to the positive Catholic milieu of Return to Me , Just Like Heaven turns to Catholicism only for a satiric punchline, with a brief parody of a scene from The Exorcist (along with Ghostbusters ). To be fair, it’s more a movie joke than a religion joke, but it’s still in wincingly poor taste. And the aforementioned unchaste behavior from a supporting character, a temptress neighbor of David’s, goes further than it needed to (though nothing happens and her behavior isn’t condoned).

Some viewers may also be turned off by the flaky new-age spin on the movie’s circumstances represented by Darryl. For me, though, any misgiving about the film’s spirituality is short-circuited, first of all, by the way things turn out not to be quite what you might expect, and also by the sheer goofiness Heder brings to Darryl. Clearly it’s all a fantasy conceit; the movie isn’t in the least making a serious statement about spirituality, as it is with respect to end-of-life issues.

What makes Just Like Heaven even more notable is the remarkable dearth of decent romantic comedies in the five years since Return to Me . In that time Hollywood has churned out a steady stream of disposable date movies featuring likable stars in variously tepid, embarrassing or downright insulting stories: 13 Going on 30 , How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days , Maid in Manhattan , Kate & Leopold . (Okay, My Big Fat Greek Wedding was all right, but that was technically an indie film.)

Just Like Heaven is the first Hollywood film since Return to Me that I would put in the same league as that earlier film, and that’s saying something.

RE: Just Like Heaven

My children asked to watch Just Like Heaven so we went to ‘Screenit’ to look up the review and based on the description of the sexual scene we decided it was not worth watching even at risk to our own purity let alone our teenagers. Then, our children came to us after reading your review of Just Like Heaven arguing that your review is applauding the movie and giving it a ‘thumbs up’… comparing it to Return to Me . My husband and I are trying to be discerning and responsible as well as balanced parents to assure our older children, especially our teens, continue to value our word and our direction. We watched the movie and we were shocked and outraged at your review. Based on the review from ‘Screenit’, we would not have even subjected ourselves to this movie except for the fact that you encouraged others to watch it via ‘decent films’. Because of our children’s strong desire to see this film, based on your encouragement, we told them we’d preview it for them.

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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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JUST LIKE HEAVEN

"romantic new age notions".

What You Need To Know:

(PaPaPa, OO, Ab, B, LLL, V, S, N, AA, M) Very strong New Age pagan worldview and romantic destiny, with strong occult content, includes talking to apparent ghost and disembodied spirit, trying to banish spirit through occult means, disembodied spirit appears to possess another person's body and control it, visits to New Age occult bookstore, psychic New Age man gives advice and appears knowledgeable, New Age connections between man and disembodied spirit, and premonitions, and movie mocks Catholic priest conducting exorcism ritual with Holy Water and screaming "Christ compels you!," to no effect, as well as movie (apparently unintentionally) takes a moral stand against killing people who are in comas, but still appears to leave it up to the individual to decide whether to commit suicide or not by "pulling the plug"; 13 obscenities, one strong profanity and 17 light profanities; mostly comic violence, including man has to do a small operation to save another man's life while getting instructions from a disembodied spirit that used to be a doctor, man struggles to drink whiskey because spirit is trying to stop him, implied vehicle crash, man struggles to save woman's life while people hold him back, and woman with large knife comically threatens man whom she thinks is crazy; light sexual innuendo, including references to fornication, man lies down on bed with disembodied spirit, kissing, and talk about being chaste and not having any dates; brief upper and rear male nudity; alcohol use to excess and young man in hospital appears to be stoned on alcohol or worse; and, euthanasia seems to be rebuked, man performs a small operation without a medical license, a mysterious wind magically keeps blowing a rental notice onto man's leg, and men try to steal a body.

More Detail:

JUST LIKE HEAVEN is a New Age romantic comedy. Reese Witherspoon stars as Elizabeth, a workaholic medical intern driving in her car, which suddenly gets hit by an oncoming truck. Some time later, David, a recently widowed young man, magically happens to rent Elizabeth’s furnished apartment.

Elizabeth’s ghost or disembodied spirit suddenly starts appearing in the apartment, ordering David to leave. He refuses to leave and consults a New Age, occult bookstore and its young psychic salesman on how to get rid of the apparent ghost. All of David’s efforts fail, and Elizabeth keeps insisting she’s not really dead.

David eventually discovers the truth about what happened to Elizabeth and falls in love with her. They have very little time to explore these situations before their chances for a future together permanently fade away.

There are several hilarious set pieces in JUST LIKE HEAVEN, but the early cut we saw still seemed a little disjointed. Also, it may not be possible to make a relationship with a disembodied spirit work really well on the big screen.

Even if the problems are fixed, however, JUST LIKE HEAVEN has an abhorrent New Age worldview that mocks Christianity at one point and contains strong occult content. Don’t be fooled, therefore, by the movie’s compelling scenes of finding true love or its apparent attack on passive euthanasia or “pulling the plug”.

Unlike the New Age movement, Christianity’s biblical view of the supernatural world has been objectively and historically proven by Jesus Christ’s physical resurrection from the dead. Those who dabble in New Age spirituality and the occult are endangering their eternal destination. Eternal salvation depends on Jesus Christ and the Grace of God, not on our knowledge and expertise in New Age or occult formulas, beliefs and rituals, which are totally evil and which must be totally shunned.

Of course, Christianity also teaches that people who are in comas still have a spirit inside them, a spirit that can often hear and think, even when there is no apparent physical activity occurring. Therefore, medical authorities, not to mention governmental authorities, must always err on the side of life before they decide to give up on or end a person’s life. Horribly, however, the medical establishment and the government seem increasingly determined to define human life in the most narrow of terms. Thus, they invent ambiguous terms like “persistent vegetative state,” giving such terms sufficiently vague, materialistic descriptions, so that they can play god as often as possible.

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Just Like Heaven

Reviewed by: Sheri McMurray CONTRIBUTOR

What is the significance of the New Age Movement? Answer

What is the Occult? Answer

THE OCCULT—What does the Bible say about it? Answer

What kind of world would you create? a short, enlightening discussion of paradise, our world, Heaven and the New Heavens and Earth— Go

Am I good enough to go to Heaven? Answer

ARE YOU GOING TO HEAVEN? —a 30-minute on-line video that starts out with a thought-provoking question, then moves on to a well-reasoned and well-illustrated explanation of sin, humanity’s need for salvation, the purpose of Christ’s death, the Bible, faith, heaven, hell and how to be sure you are going to heaven.

It’s a wonderful afterlife.

Pop Quiz: What does “Ghost,” “Heaven Can Wait,” and “All Of Me” have in common? Give up? It’s DreamWorks’ new movie “Just Like Heaven.”

E lizabeth ( Reese Witherspoon , so captivating not just in beauty but behavior) is a dedicated doctor who has no life outside the hospital. She works 26 hour shifts and is up for the position of Attending Physician. She is thrilled to learn she has won that most revered post on the same night her sister has invited her to dinner and the prospect of the perfect guy in yet another arranged blind date.

Already late, Elizabeth is preoccupied with her car stereo, and while fiddling with the channels, her car is hit by a truck.

As incandescent clouds float over the Golden Gate bridge we are lead to our next character searching for an apartment to let. As his energy is running out, after viewing apartment after uncomfortable apartment, David (a gentle and convincing Mark Ruffalo ) is slapped in the face by a very persistent ad floating on the breeze, for an apartment which he just happens to be standing right in front of. David finds this apartment, furnished with the perfect couch, is “perfect.”

The next thing Elizabeth knows, some man is in her apartment, messing up the furniture and putting rings on her walnut coffee table with sweating beer cans. She does not realize that three months have gone by, her apartment has been sublet, and that no one can see her but her new tenant, a sad and lonely man named David.

As David, manifestly confronted with Elizabeth’s supernatural presence, consults Darryl ( Jon Heder from “Napoleon Dynamite”), the clerk in a psychic bookstore, and tries to confide in his unbelieving best friend Jack (Donal Logue), he becomes more frustrated with the fact he cannot get rid of her nor help her get back “to the light.” David brings in a priest for a painfully overacted exorcism and employs some pretty funny Ghostbusters (theme and all), and attempts recitations from the books, but nothing seems to work to support or advise her.

As time goes by, Elizabeth realizes she is spirit, but refuses to accept she is dead. She has a form of “ghost amnesia” that must be cured and employs David to help her solve the mystery of her spirit form as well as find out who she is. In a movie like this there is no logical reason for such matters. They simply are, and you are asked to accept them.

The fun is in the investigating, as this romantic comedy turns and twists in sweet and sometimes bittersweet ways. As Elizabeth and David try to find out who she is and what is going on, they both realize that neither one has been fully alive in their respective lives. Each must find a way to rescue the other to find a way for them to be together before, as the production notes say, their prospects for a future together permanently fade away.

“Just Like Heaven” works, and so we accept everything, even the scene where a man is unconscious on the floor of a restaurant and Elizabeth tells David the man’s lung is leaking air into his chest cavity, and he must open a hole with a paring knife and keep it open with the plastic pour spout from a vodka bottle. As the chest is vented and the victim breathes again, Elizabeth jubilantly remembers she’s a doctor.

They race to the hospital, only to find Elizabeth’s body on life support, in a coma from the horrible car accident three months ago, and teetering between this life and the next.

We meet Elizabeth’s sister Abby (Dina Spybey) who has the unnerving right to sign a form which will allow Elizabeth to pass away out of her coma and out of David’s Earthly life. Elizabeth’s two little nieces who can see or at least feel her, and her dedicated friends and co-workers who help David find Elizabeth’s body in the hospital, frozen in a coma after the accident, barely clinging to life, not to mention the creepy doctor Rushton who took over her job when she became a spirit and is trying hard to convince Elizabeth’s grief stricken sister to take Elizabeth off life support. He encourages Abby by spouting she “Ask God’s forgiveness and not prolong the inevitable.”

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? Will David’s best buddy, Jack, who also is his analyst, help him with an incredible plan to save Elizabeth so that she can join him in the present? Can one movie support these many coincidences and close calls and still keep your attention? There is a contest between what we want and what the characters do, and we get involved in spite of ourselves. The ending is a great round of twists, so as not to take away from it’s impact, I will let you see for yourselves. All I can say is it’s not disappointing, although you probably can see it coming.

“Just Like Heaven” is based on the book “If Only It Were True” by Marc Levy and directed by Mark Waters, who made the venerable “The House of Yes” and the serviceable “Mean Girls.” His film is a fairy tale, and he meshes it with a mixture of familiar, easygoing songs (“Just My Imagination” and the “Ghostbusters” theme) and biting humor, including a slap at “The Exorcist.” Which satisfied me, because that movie is so demonic I won’t even go there. At least nothing in “Just Like Heaven” is treated as fact, as far as the physic element goes, and that’s why comedies work better with the occult, because they poke fun at it instead of giving it a nod as fact.

Parents should know that this film has some crude language which includes 2 h*ll, 3 a** (in different forms), 1 use of the word “slut,” 1 sh*t, 2 references to God: “Oh, my God,” someone giving “the finger,” brief non-sexual (comic) nudity, and some sexual references. Characters drink, including excessive drinking to numb pain and a description of drinking a lot of Margaritas as being fun. A character punches another in the nose, and there are tense scenes.

Some viewers may be disturbed by the question of “pulling the plug.” While it is certainly a good idea to have a balanced life, for a moment this movie seems to suggest that failing and getting drunk are better than working hard and making a contribution. In the end, though, the characters learn who they are and what are the best things in life to help make them productive and whole again. To it’s credit, there is not a dark moment in the movie, unless of course you take the plot seriously, in which case it is deeply tragic. Unfortunately, a Christian alternative is never suggested as the ultimate healing for all broken hearts.

A relevant strength of this movie is its portrayal of a man who turns down a beautiful and willing woman who offers him sex because it would interfere with the relationship he hopes to have with someone else. A Christian quality running through “Just Like Heaven” is how these characters love each other and treat one another with respect and affection. The love between Elizabeth and David proves over again that true love blooms only after two people get to know one another as friends before there is a physical relationship.

Families who see this movie should talk about their own end of life wishes. They should also talk about how we can achieve a balance between working for the future and taking time to appreciate the present. We only have this one chance in this world to give the gifts of the saving grace of Jesus and love to those who mean the most to us.

Another thing to discuss is the very real fact that there is no such thing as a “disembodied spirit” like Elizabeth’s character has. That The Scriptures emphatically forbid any contact with incantations, mediums, the spirit world, etc. and any who venture to trust in the occult instead of the True Word of God has sinned .

“Just Like Heaven” (as the name suggests) is not just like heaven, for there is no heaven on Earth until Jesus comes back to claim it and rule forever. Then the New Jerusalem will come to Earth, and in Heaven all true followers of Christ shall be forever.

Make no mistake, although I liked this move and it is, after all a fantasy and a “ghostly” love story akin to the classic “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir,” we need to know that Proverbs warns we can be deceived into believing we are doing the right thing (as when David sought out the psychic book store for help instead of Scripture) and yet be heading towards spiritual destruction. People do not naturally seek God or pursue righteousness ( Rom. 3:10-18 ). Only the Spirit awakens our hearts to the Person of Christ so that we see we need God’s leading in unanswerable situations. Our most profound human thinking is mere foolishness ( 1 Cor. 1:18-20 ). Only God knows the way that leads to Eternal Life (not any spiritual medium or divinations can do that).

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death ( Proverbs 16:25 ). Only God knows the way that leads to life and to Heaven itself, and He wants to lead us to walk that way ( Matthew 7:13-14 )!

Violence: Minor / Profanity: Mild / Sex/nudity: Minor

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers .

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