Film Reviews

Just Like Heaven

• Rating:
• Director: Mark Waters.
• Starring: Reece Witherspoon, Mark Ruffalo, Donald Logue, Dina Spybey.
• Details: US, 95 mins, PG.

Elizabeth Masterson's (Witherspoon) career as a doctor is so important she has little time for friends or a love life. When her sister (Spybey) takes pity on her and sets her up on a blind date, Elizabeth reluctantly agrees but fate steps in - in the guise of a car crash. The accident renders her a spirit and, caught between life and death, she haunts her apartment, which her family have rented to moody architect David (Ruffalo) - the only person who can see or hear her. In their constant battles to rid each other from the apartment, the pair strike-up an unlikely friendship that soon turns to romance. Problems arise, however, when they find that Elizabeth is in a coma in a downtown hospital and her family have agreed to cut off the life support machine. Just Like Heaven is the Milky Way of movies, a lighter than light snack that won't spoil your appetite but enough of them may make your teeth rot. Opening with a Nora Jones-esque version of The Cure's 'Just Like Heaven', this movie kick starts any potential abscess lurking in your wisdom tooth. Pitched at an audience of pre adolescent girls aged roughly from ten to eleven, Just Like Heaven must be given credit for nailing it's target audience with skill - but not much else. Witherspoon does exactly what she has being doing for the last six years while Ruffalo's perpetual frown gets a little grating ten minutes in. It's hard to recommend this to anyone who hasn't styled their bangs in the last week.

Review by Gavin Burke