Just Like Heaven

One of my many guilty pleasures is romantic comedies. They are frivolous and always end on the upbeat of love. No matter what happens you always know what will happen in the end. Two quirky lovable characters are going to be together. Its the kind of romance one imagines will last forever, although when you let reality creep in you realize probably won't last more than a couple of months. In particular since inevitably in every romantic comedy there is some misunderstanding that tears the two young lovers apart. And lets face it, if some insignificant misunderstanding can do it, I'm guessing more serious revelations will doom it.

But that is just my pessimism sneaking in. At movies end, you always have a happy end. So every once in a while, its relaxing to see a romantic comedy that will no doubt be mindless but enjoyable. That does not mean, however, that every romantic comedy is good. Some are downright horrific. Judging from the trailer, I figured that Just Like Heaven (2005) would be in this latter category. In truth the plot does take the "meet cute" to a whole new level of sappy stupidty.

It does have a saving grace in its two stars. Both Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo are extremely likeable actors. Whatever there camera presence is it translates to every character they play. So as always the two are fun to watch here. They maneuver their way through a fairly routine, if a bit otherworldly, plot. I'm pretty sure that "Ghost: The Romantic Comedy" didn't need to be made, but it seems that it was and Witherspoon and Ruffalo make it work as best they can.