2 of 3

Just Like Heaven was adapted from Mark Levy's novel If Only It Were True by screenwriters Peter Tolan and Leslie Dixon. They have so much good-natured fun with their tale that it's hard to take exception to the subject matter. There is a scene in which David hires a priest to exorcize Elizabeth's spirit from the apartment; Elizabeth watches, annoyed, as holy water is sprinkled onto her hardwood floors and warns David, "You're mopping that up." It's funny and a little irreverent, but if anything the film seems not to mock the idea of a spirit realm, nor to mine it for dark or cultic content, but to poke gentle fun at the ways we try to know the unknowable. I was ready to object when the plot took David to an Occult and Metaphysical bookstore and even had him trying to summon (unsuccessfully) Elizabeth's spirit with spells and candles, but this material was handled so lightly and quickly that it simply didn't have time to raise my hackles.

Jon Heder, who played the lead role in 'Napoleon Dynamite,' is David's friend Darryl

Just Like Heaven is not especially subtle. It's evident early on that David needs deliverance from his emotional deadness as much as Elizabeth needs help with her peculiar state. But in case we don't catch it, there's plenty of dialogue crafted to state the obvious. Still, it's refreshing to watch a romance develop in the absence of a bodily connection, and the film does a nice job contrasting the deepening feelings between David and the untouchable Elizabeth with the shallow and empty propositions of David's all-physical neighbor Katrina (Ivana Milicevic).

There are plot inconsistencies, to be sure. (How can Elizabeth remember every nook and cranny of her apartment but nothing else about her life? Why is she warm and vibrant in the opening scenes and yet remembered by everyone who knew her as one-dimensional and driven?). But Just Like Heaven can be forgiven its leaps of logic for the same reason it can be forgiven its dalliances into all that subject matter I was so afraid of—it's a fairy tale. There's a lot to be said for the telling of stories, and Just Like Heaven is a sweet and amusing one. Boy meets girl, girl disappears, what happens next? I recommend you grab a date and some popcorn and find out.

Talk About It

1. Elizabeth's friends and family felt that her dedication to her work had deprived her of a full life. What ingredients do you think are necessary to a life well lived?
   
   
2. David and Elizabeth had no choice but to conduct their romance in the absence of physical touch. What role do you think physical attraction and connection should play in a developing romance? How about in an established one?
   
   
3. Just Like Heaven has fun imagining what might take place in the realm of spirits. Is it appropriate to imagine and tell stories that involve the afterlife? What, if anything, should be "off-limits' in our stories and imaginations?

The Family Corner

Just Like Heaven is a surprisingly wholesome film that affirms family life and the idea of love before sex. There are occasional mild expletives (including the use of the Lord's name in vain) and a few scenes of sexual innuendo, although there are no explicit or even suggested sex scenes. There are brief episodes involving ideas of the occult, ghost-busting and exorcism, presented in a humorous fashion.

Photos © Copyright DreamWorks SKG

© Carolyn Arends 2005, subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

next page... |  2 of 3