Just like Heaven

Just like Heaven Information

Just Like Heaven is an American romantic comedy fantasy film released on September 16, 2005, in the United States and Canada. Set in San Francisco, it was directed by Mark Waters, starring Reese Witherspoon, Mark Ruffalo, and Jon Heder. It is based on the novel If Only It Were True (Et si c'était vrai...) by Marc Levy. Steven Spielberg acquired the rights to make the film out of the book.

Plot

Elizabeth Masterson (Reese Witherspoon), a young emergency medicine physician whose work is her whole life, is seriously injured in a car accident while on her way to a blind date. Three months later, David Abbott (Mark Ruffalo), a landscape architect recovering from the death of his wife, moves into the apartment that had been Elizabeth's.

Elizabeth begins to appear to David at the apartment. However with ghostly properties and abilities it is clear something is not normal: She can suddenly appear and disappear, move through walls, and once takes over his actions. When they meet, they are both surprised, as Elizabeth is not aware yet of her condition. For the most part, David is the only one who can see Elizabeth, leading others to believe that he is hallucinating and talking to himself.

At first, Elizabeth does not remember anything of her life, and refuses to believe that she is dead. Her memories come back gradually. Together, assisted by a bookstore clerk and psychic Darryl (Jon Heder), she and David find out who she is, what happened to her, and why they are connected. They find that her body is in a coma in the hospital. When David discovers that in accordance with her living will, she will soon be taken off life support, he reluctantly tries to prevent this by telling Elizabeth sister that he can see her. It is then revealed that one of Elizabeth's young nieces can also sense her presence although she cannot see her.

When Elizabeth's sister thinks that he is a mentally disturbed and drives him away, David decides to prevent Elizabeth's death by stealing her body from the hospital. He asks J.J, his friend to help him and it is discovered that J.J is actually the former boyfriend of Elizabeth's sister and he had set Elizabeth's blind date with David, the night of the accident. The reason David is the only one who can see Elizabeth is that he was her blind date. He also eventually admits that he loves Elizabeth and that is the reason he doesn't want her to die. While stealing Elizabeth's body, they are eventually discovered in the hospital. The security guards soon find them, pulling David away from Elizabeth's body. He then realizes, that when he was pulled off he had her breathing tube in his hand; he then gets away from the guards, kisses Elizabeth's body and she miraculously wakes up. However, the recovered Elizabeth doesn't remember anything that happened during the coma or any of the events with David, leaving him heartbroken.

Sometime later, Elizabeth goes up to the roof of her apartment, which has been transformed into a beautiful landscaped garden. She sees David there, who had gotten in with the spare key he had kept in order to tend the garden. Just as he is about to leave, she asks for her key back. When their hands touch, her memory of the events during her coma are restored, and they kiss.

Cast

Reese Witherspoon as Dr. Elizabeth Masterson
Mark Ruffalo as David Abbot
Jon Heder as Darryl
Donal Logue as Jack
Dina Waters as Abby Brody
Ivana Milicevic as Katrina
Rosalind Chao as Dr. Fran Lo
Ben Shenkman as Dr. Brett Rushton
Joel McKinnon Miller as Lead Ghostbuster

Critical reaction

Although the film was popular, it was overshadowed by Witherspoon's more high-profile and almost simultaneously released blockbuster Walk the Line, for which she won an Academy Award.

Critics were mixed on the film. The film achieved a 56% approval rating from 149 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and the consensus "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." However, the most prominent critics " such as Roger Ebert, Richard Roeper, and A. O. Scott " gave it favorable reviews; they all agreed that the plot had logical flaws that were somewhat overcome by good dialogue and characterization.

The performances of Witherspoon, Ruffalo, and Heder were all generally well received. Heder's appearance helped to debunk an urban legend that the actor had died shortly after filming Napoleon Dynamite.

The DVD release in February 2006 was given unusually strong promotional publicity.

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. 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.