Just Like Heaven

Reese Witherspoon gets off to a bad start here playing a workaholic young doctor with a Type A personality, rushing through her medical dialogue as if she learned it phonetically but doesn't have a clue what any of it means. Thankfully that doesn't last long because she's hit by a truck, at which point the story switches over to Mark Ruffalo with such abruptness that it's clear the filmmakers are trying to hide Witherspoon's fate for a reveal later on. Ruffalo plays a depressed guy who subleases Witherspoon's fantastic San Francisco apartment and falls in love with her spirit, which is haunting the joint. Cutesy confrontations follow (i.e., his beer cans leave rings on her furniture), but after man and ghost learn how Witherspoon came to be disembodied, they team up to put things right. Director Mark Waters (Freaky Friday, Mean Girls) strains noticeably for endearing little laughs, but the movie is severely undermined by script contrivances and uncreative screwball-wannabe moments. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: Available in either widescreen or full screen versions, DVD extras include audio commentary (by director Mark Waters, editor Bruce Green, and cinematographer Daryn Okada), a 15-minute “making-of” featurette, a 13-minute “Meet the Cast” featurette, four deleted scenes including an alternate ending (6 min.), a five-minute gag reel, and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a so-so film.] (R. Blackwelder)