Just Like Heaven (film)

''Just Like Heaven'' is a 2005 American romantic comedy fantasy film directed by Mark Waters, starring Reese Witherspoon, Mark Ruffalo, and Jon Heder. It is based on the 1999 French novel '' If Only It Were True'' (''Et si c'était vrai...'') by Marc Levy.

Steven Spielberg obtained the rights to produce the film from the book. The film was released in the United States on September 16, 2005. It received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $102 million.

Plot

Elizabeth Masterson, a young emergency medicine physician in San Francisco whose work is everything, is in a serious car accident while on her way to a blind date at her sister's. Three months later, landscape architect David Abbott, needing a fresh start from a tragic event, moves into Elizabeth's apartment, after 'discovering' it in what seems to be a fateful happenstance.

Elizabeth begins to appear to David in the apartment, and both are confused. She thinks he's a squatter, and he thinks she broke in. Soon they see she isn't really alive as she can suddenly appear and disappear, and move through walls and objects. Elizabeth doesn't know who she is, and insists she's not dead. David unsuccessfully tries to have her spirit exorcised from the apartment.

David enlists the help of psychic bookstore clerk, Darryl, who says Elizabeth isn't really dead. He also tells David he's clearly got a blocked heart, and needs to let go of the woman who was previously in his life. When Elizabeth says David should get over being dumped, he storms out, and Darryl tells Elizabeth to not disrespect the dead. She finds David and he explains his wife Laura had died.

As only David can see and hear her, others think he is hallucinating, drinking, and talking to himself. Elizabeth asks him to help her discover who she is and what happened. David talks to her neighbours but they didn't know her.

Entering a restaurant, a man has a medical emergency, so Elizabeth helps David save his life. Suddenly, she remembers being a doctor, and they go to the nearest hospital, where it all comes flooding back. Her mentor Fran tells David that Elizabeth was in an accident three months ago, and has been in a coma. When David touches her hand, Elizabeth feels it, so she knows she's still connected to her body.

Elizabeth's sister Abby arrives, and the attending doctor notifies her that Elizabeth signed a DNR order, but as she was a doctor there, they've treated her as a special case. However, he asks Abby to disconnect life support, and she says she'll consider it.

David and Elizabeth bond, and he tells her about his wife's death. When he takes her out to a beautiful landscaped garden he designed, she tells him she senses she has been there before. In fact, she was dreaming of the garden in the opening scenes of the film, while cat-napping during a long shift.

When David's told he's been offered a long term lease, he realises Elizabeth will be taken off life support. He tries to prevent it by going to Abby's to tell her that Elizabeth is communicating with him, proving it by telling Abby things only Elizabeth knows. While there, her niece Lily can sense her, putting a cookie on the plate before her.

David begs Abby to keep her alive, but she has already signed the papers so Elizabeth will be taken off life support the next day. As a last ditch effort, David blurts out Abby's secret from her wedding day, freaking her out so she drives him out of her house with a knife.

Elizabeth opts to spend her last night with David in the apartment. The next morning, he is determined to prevent her death by stealing her body from the hospital. He enlists his friend/therapist Jack (Abby's former college boyfriend) to help him. He had set David up a blind date with Elizabeth on the night of the accident - David can see Elizabeth because they were meant to meet. He admits to Jack and Elizabeth that he loves her which is why he doesn't want her to die; he has gotten past his wife's death.

Security guards soon catch them trying to steal Elizabeth's body. As they pull Jack away from her, her breathing tube comes off. As Elizabeth is now dying, David frantically kisses her, while her spirit begins to fade away. Then, amazingly, her heartbeat returns and she awakens from the coma. Elizabeth recognizes Abby, but not David, and he sadly leaves.

Sometime later, Elizabeth moves back into her apartment. Drawn to the roof, she finds David, who has transformed it into a landscaped garden. He reveals he'd gotten in using the spare key her spirit had shown him. When she asks for her key back, their hands touch, her memory of the events during her coma are restored, and they kiss happily.

The final scene fades away from the rooftop to show Darryl staring into a snow globe.

Cast

Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 54% based on 151 reviews, with an average rating of 5.6/10. The site's consensus reads, "Delightfully sweet like a lollipop, ''Just Like Heaven'' is a dreamy romantic comedy that may give you a toothache when it attempts to broach difficult end of life issues by throwing a cherry on top." Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 47 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert, Richard Roeper, and A. O. Scott all gave it favorable reviews, agreeing that the plot had logical flaws that were somewhat overcome by good dialogue and characterization.

Theme song

The title of this film is also that of a popular 1987 song, " Just Like Heaven" by The Cure. Singer Katie Melua recorded a cover version of the song for the soundtrack of the film. Melua's version is played over the opening titles, and has lines such as "she said" changed to "he said" to maintain a heterosexual narrative. The original version by The Cure, as well as the remainder of Melua's version, are played over the closing credits.

The orchestral score was written by Rolfe Kent, and orchestrated by Tony Blondal.

Soundtrack

See also

*''Always (1989 film)''
*'' Endukante... Premanta!''
*''Ghost (1990 film)''
*''Ghost Town''
*Soulmates
*Vismayathumbathu (2004)

References

External links

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{{Portal bar, Film, Comedy, Society, Visual arts

2000s fantasy comedy films
2000s ghost films
2005 romantic comedy films
2000s romantic fantasy films
2005 films
American fantasy comedy films
American ghost films
American romantic comedy films
American romantic fantasy films
DreamWorks Pictures films
Films about death
Films based on fantasy novels
Films based on French novels
Films based on romance novels
Films directed by Mark Waters
Films set in San Francisco
Films shot in San Francisco
Films set in hospitals
Films with screenplays by Leslie Dixon
Films with screenplays by Peter Tolan
Films scored by Rolfe Kent
Films produced by Walter F. Parkes
2000s English-language films
2000s American films