Just Like Heaven (film)
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Just Like Heaven is a romantic comedy film released on September 16, 2005, in the U.S. and Canada. Set in San Francisco, it stars Reese Witherspoon, Mark Ruffalo, and Jon Heder. It reached #1 in the United States box office, though it earned much less than anticipated. It is based on the novel If Only It Were True (Et si c'était vrai...) by Marc Levy. I See You, a Bollywood film, has a similar storyline.
Plot
Elizabeth Masterson (Witherspoon), a young doctor whose work is her whole life, is involved in a car accident. Three months later, David Abbott (Ruffalo), a landscape architect recovering from the death of his wife, moves into her apartment.
Elizabeth appears to David at the apartment. Though seemingly a normal person, she has ghostly properties and abilities: 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. It is later revealed that one of Elizabeth's young nieces can also sense her presence although she cannot see her.
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 Zen-like psychic Darryl (Jon Heder), she and David find out who she is, what happened to her, and why they are connected.
Eventually, they find that her body is in a coma in the hospital. In accordance with her living will, she will soon be taken off life support. Elizabeth's spirit and David, who have fallen in love, manage to prevent this just in time, and she miraculously recovers. However, she doesn't remember anything that happened during the coma or any of the events with David, which leaves him heartbroken.
One day, Elizabeth goes up to her roof and sees David, who got in with the spare key and is finishing up the garden there. Just as he is about to leave, she asks for her key back. When their hands touch, her memory is restored, and they kiss. Before the credits roll, Darryl is shown shaking a snowglobe where (supposedly) David and Elizabeth were in. Darryl is proud and sighs "Righteous".
Critical reaction
The film, though popular, was somewhat 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, although the most prominent of them, such as Roger Ebert, Richard Roeper, and A.O. Scott, gave it favorable reviews. They all seemed to agree 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 rumor that the actor had died shortly after filming Napoleon Dynamite. The DVD release in February 2006 was given unusually strong promotional publicity.
In 2006, the movie was awarded "worst foreign movie of the year" by the "Gérard du Cinema" Academy, an equivalent of the "Golden Raspberry Awards" in France.
Theme song
The title of this film is also the name of a popular 1987 song "Just like Heaven" by The Cure, which singer Katie Melua covered for the film soundtrack. Melua's version is played over the opening titles; the original version by the Cure is played over much of the closing credits. The credits conclude with more of Melua's version.
This was the second film that Reese Witherspoon has starred in in which the title has been the same as a song, the first was Sweet Home Alabama.
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