A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: Just Like Heaven

Date Viewed: 9/18/05

Details:

Reese Witherspoon

Mark Ruffalo

Director: Mark Waters

Score: +

The Review: A cross between Maxie and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, with a leavening tinge of Ghost and Whose Life is It Anyway -- the romantic comedy Just Like Heaven is light and entertaining. The connection with Maxie is even richer because of the San Francisco locale. Adapted from a young-adult novel, If Only It Were True by Marc Levy, with some script changes that seem to have enhanced and tightened the plot structure, in a positive direction.

After an accident, workaholic physician Elizabeth Masterson (Witherspoon) finds herself haunting her apartment as it is being sub-let to a landscape architect (Ruffalo). Only he can see her, leading to some good opportunity for situation comedy. Considering the genre, it's inevitable that they're drawn to one another, and the puzzle of circumstance eventually plays out.

It's a bit frustrating when the majority of "+" movies this year turn out to be classified as romantic comedies: no science fiction, no action-adventure, few dramas -- just romantic comedy. Would that some of the entertainment and imagination had been spent in different genres.

(18-Sep-05)

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