Saturday, January 5, 2013

Just Like Heaven (2005)

Director: Mark Waters                              Writers: Peter Tolan & Leslie Dixon
Film Score: Rolfe Kent                             Cinematography: Daryn Okada
Starring: Reece Witherspoon, Mark Ruffalo, Jon Heder and Rosalind Chao

Another confession: I like a good romantic comedy, emphasis on the good. In the spirit (no pun intended) of films like The Family Man and Groundhog Day is Just Like Heaven. Part All of Me, part Ghost, the film follows all of the conventions of the genre but in a sit-com comic way rather than something more serious like Notting Hill. But of course that’s what we come to genre films for, to enjoy the way the actors work within the conventions. Unique is good in some films, but not in the RomCom (P.S. I Love You comes to mind), and in that respect, at least, Just Like Heaven delivers.

The story begins with Reece Witherspoon as Elizabeth, a doctor who had just been given her residency at a San Francisco hospital. On her way to a blind date she is killed in a car wreck and the scene fades out. Fade in on Mark Ruffalo’s David, who is looking for an apartment, preferably one with a nice couch. He eventually finds the perfect place, but it’s not until he’s settled that he discovers a hitch: it’s Elizabeth’s apartment, complete with Elizabeth in it. But as indignant as she is about finding a “squatter” in her living room, it soon becomes apparent to both of them that she’s “not all there.”

At first glance, neither Witherspoon nor Ruffalo seem like good candidates for the genre. Witherspoon has too much of a baby face and an acting style that still seems a bit artificial. If anything, Ruffalo is the opposite. His penchant for brooding, introspective characters not only doesn’t go with Witherspoon but sort of defies the genre type. In the end, however, it does work. And for that, much of the credit must go to the script by Tolan and Dixon. Tolan, who came out of television, writing for shows like Murphy Brown, Home Improvement and, most recently, Rescue Me, is a perfect mix with Dixon who has only written for cinema in films like Pay It Forward, The Thomas Crown Affair, and Mrs. Doubtfire.

Much of the dialogue between Witherspoon and Ruffalo is very sit-com like, especially when they’re arguing in the apartment. And the climax of the film is pure television. For that, Witherspoon’s particular brand of acting really becomes an asset. And with Ruffalo’s character still in mourning, his darkness can be explained and allows him to avoid the goofiness that is sometimes a danger in a film like this. The one thing that probably keeps this film from being great is the lack of chemistry between the two. There is a realistic sense of connection between them, but nothing that jumps off the screen. Still, Just Like Heaven is a very satisfying romantic comedy that connoisseurs of the genre will enjoy.

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