JUST LIKE HEAVEN is an irresistible and unpretentious morsel of old-fashioned romance with a dash of weltschmerz and metaphysics tossed in for good measure. It’s not so much boy meets girl, as boy meets ghost, though they don’t let that stand in the way of falling in love in spite of themselves.
He is David (Mark Ruffalo), a shambling lost soul of the living kind who copes with having become suddenly single two years’ back by guzzling beer and remaining as immobile as possible in front of his television. While searching for a furnished place to live in San Francisco, and not finding one with a sofa that meets his requirements, he’s all but assaulted by an ad for a sublet that won’t take no for an answer. The place is an Edwardian dream with views, a fireplace, private roof access, and, as David discovers, a previous tenant who hasn’t vacated the premises. That would be Elizabeth (Reese Witherspoon), a medical resident who was so focused on her medical career that she failed to notice her life passing her by. And so it is not much of a surprise that she’s also failed to notice her suddenly incorporeal state.
They meet cute, with Elizabeth mistaking David for a homeless mental case and David forced to wear boxers while taking a shower now that his privacy has been invaded. It’s not that he doesn’t try to exorcise Elizabeth, with holy water, chanting, and pointedly ignoring her as she sings show tunes while he tries to watch television. It’s just that, as the slacker expert (NAPOLEON DYNAMITE’s John Heder) from an occult bookshop David brings in puts it, she’s got more than unfinished business.
There is undeniable chemistry between the perky Witherspoon and the rumpled Ruffalo. The exasperation they excite in one another by the odd living arrangements as well as one another’s personalities and philosophies makes for the perfect prelude to the inevitable attraction that is the raison d’etre for flicks of this type. Beneath the snappy dialogue there resonates the genuine loneliness each has so effectively subsumed and that each is snapped out of in spite of themselves. Witherspoon in particular, is achingly wistful as she finally walks inside a restaurant she’s always wanted to visit and never had time for and suddenly has it hit home that now she never will. It’s sentimental and just a little syrupy, but, like other such moments, it does nothing to dampen the comedy generated by this couple who are made for each other, but have a somewhat larger than usual obstacle to overcome.
If the JUST LIKE HEAVEN has a failing, it’s in being underwritten whenever the focus of the film is on anything but David and Elizabeth’s interaction. It’s never explained why David is looking for an apartment just then, nor how a workaholic such as Elizabeth had time to decorate it so exquisitely. Donal Logue as David’s best friend, a mental health professional of some sort, is a character that is sketchy at best, with only Logue’s garrulous charm to carry it off. Be indulgent, though, and have a nice wallow in something harmless but fun.
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