reviewed by Brian "The Naked Gun" Felts
& Benn "Where's the Humanity?" Farrell
Witherspoon (Vanity Fair) stars as Elizabeth, a woman who is controlled by her life as a doctor. Every one
she works with tells her of that. On her way home from work she is involved in a car accident and as a result
is in a coma. Her spirit, however, stays in her apartment, which has been sublet to a landscape architect named
David, played by Mark Ruffalo (Collateral,) who is going through his own problems. Elizabeth spirit is unaware
that she was in a car accident so she has no idea why she is the way she is, so David helps her find out what
happened, and in the process falls in love with her.
Witherspoon was quite enjoyable in this role as the romantic lead. She is very adorable and very pure,
almost the anti-Angelina Jole of Hollywood leading ladies. I enjoyed her approach to the character and
at no time did she waver from the role. She has a good sense of humor and good timing that she displays
in the first 10 minutes of the movie. The only criticism I have is that she never should a wide range of
emotion. Her low wasn't very low when her spirit found out that she was in a coma, and she wasn't very high
when she finally recognized David in her human form. But it's not a big issue for me.
When I looked up Mark Ruffalo's filmography, I was surprised to only recognize one other comedy.
Ruffalo did a great job, didn't miss any beats and seemed to really mesh well with Witherspoon. He
had a nice depth of character showing the hurt he had from his previous relationship. He also worked
well with both supporting actors Donal Logue and Jon Heder. Speaking of Jon Heder, he gets the award
for being completely useless and only being cast because he had a popular independent movie but has no real
talent. Congratulations.
The movie was written by Peter Tolan (Guess Who) and Leslie Dixon (Mrs. Doubtfire), which was
adapted from a Marc Levy book. I thought they jumped write into the movie and by doing so completely left
out act I where you establish characters and motives and etc. This makes for a fast passed movie but it can
leave the characters shallow if you don't have good actors--this didn't happen to the leads but Heder and the
rest of cast were forgettable and to some degree so was Logue, and it causes you not to care about them if
you don't know who they are. The only other problem I had was that after Elizabeth came to, she forgot that
her spirit was in contact with David--which was a nice twist, but the clues to her finding David again were
too quick, they weren't enough of them, and then the final scene with the garden on the roof, was a poor attempt
at making up for it. It sounds like I am nit-picking, but it is an entertaining movie. It just could have been
better.
Just Like Heaven is another romantic comedy that has come out this year to be worth seeing, which
is perfect for me since I am without a woman and knowing my luck when I do find one the best romantic
comedy of the year will be Deuce Bigalo 3: The Dirty Sanchez. So go and enjoy this one with someone
you love, and embrace the adorableness of Reese Witherspoon.
Brian - the Naked Gun I thought the movie was a decent romantic comedy also. I laughed a few times and thought Witherspoon was very adorable and easy to love. My main problem with the movie was its central message. It was not very clear. There were several messages given to us throughout the course of the picture, but the main one focused on the reason or reasons why Elizabeth and David were "destined" to meet and fall for each other. Maybe that's the message, "some people are DESTINED to fall for each other." However, the material scratched at the surface a few times, but nothing gelled for us enough to take home. The third act had some faltering moments of high concept comedy, which I guess this picture is, but for the most part, the director went out of his way to make the picture as respectable as possible. Those moments in the third act were somewhat out of left wing, and although I laughed for them, I think they brought down an otherwise loveable late summer release. Otherwise, I really liked the cast and the material. I really like the inevitable moments created between Ruffalo and Witherspoon. Nothing felt forced until the end. Overall, if you're in the mood to fall in love with a couple of on screen characters, this movie should be the one to do it. It's very cute and well thought out for the most part. I'd see it again, but probably won't. Benn - Where's the Humanity?
I am beginning to change my mind about Reese Witherspoon. I always thought she was a bubble headed
blond and when she married Ryan Phillippe, it pretty much cemented my thoughts, the old 'you can smell
your own' scenario. While I did enjoy her in the movie Sweet Home Alabama, this movie she just brought
me to my knees at her performance and I may have to add her to my favorite five actresses list. She is
absolutely adorable in this movie that has a good leading man in Mark Ruffalo and a somewhat entertaining
script.