Just Like HeavenMovie Reviews

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So-so
Avg. Critic Score: 47 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
12 OK for kids 12+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 75
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    Yes. The movie works, and so we accept everything. Read full review

  • 70
    The Hollywood Reporter | Sheri Linden

    Crossing the life-death divide, Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo are a winning pair in this smart and tender comedy. Read full review

  • 67
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    That Just Like Heaven succeeds at all - at least for teenage girls with limited interest in the drafting of living wills - is due entirely to Witherspoon's can-do charisma. Read full review

  • 63
    USA Today | Mike Clark

    Garnering a chuckle or two, but no more, are Donal Logue from "The Tao of Steve" (now there's a comedy) -- and, as a desperate magnet for both the slacker and "dude" demographics, Jon Heder from Napoleon Dynamite. Read full review

  • 60
    The New York Times | Dana Stevens

    It's not heaven, exactly, but after the purgatory of the late summer movie season, it may be close enough. Read full review

  • 60
    Variety | Brian Lowry

    As uneven as the topography of its San Francisco locales, but the amiable peaks mostly offset the flat stretches and valleys. A variation on a very old meet-cute theme with a touch of otherworldly romance. Read full review

  • 50
    San Francisco Chronicle | Ruthe Stein

    The last half is so superior to the first that you wish they'd rethought the whole thing and devised a way to make it more of a one piece. Read full review

  • 50
    Los Angeles Times | Kevin Thomas

    There are moments when it is possible, with effort, to forget the plot and its tired premise and enjoy Witherspoon and Ruffalo's chemistry and imagine they are in another movie. But never for long. Read full review

  • 38
    Boston Globe | Wesley Morris

    Just Like Heaven suggests that a post-coma Elizabeth might understand what life is truly all about. Of course, if being alive means having to live in this movie, maybe she was better off the way she was. Read full review

  • 30
    Washington Post | Ann Hornaday

    Outlandish, uneven, preposterous and often maddeningly morbid. Read full review

View more reviews for Just Like Heaven on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says OK for kids 12+ Quirky romantic comedy with a dark-ish premise.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this romantic comedy begins with a harrowing (though briefly shown) car accident, leaving a young woman apparently dead. She reappears as a neat-freak ghost in her old apartment, harassing the lonely garden designer who's moved in. Characters drink (at home, in a bar). A woman neighbor tries to seduce David by undressing in his apartment. The film also includes images of ghosts and spells in an "occult" book. Doctors and family discuss whether to continue life support for a woman in a coma. While most of the movie is light-hearted, it raises a serious question: how do you decide when to turn off life support for a loved one?
  • Families can talk about the relationship between the sisters, as this creates the eventual dilemma/climax, as to whether Elizabeth should be taken off life support. How are they both loving and competitive, jealous and supportive? You might also consider the film's use of romantic comedy structures (boy meets girl, etc.) in relation to the ethical and even spiritual questions it poses, concerning life, death, and grief.
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Not an issue
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: Car crash at start is abrupt, but not explicitly shown.
  • sex false3 Sex: Some conversation about sex; woman appears in revealing "exercise" outfit; woman in a towel drops it (view from her back); joke about "lubricant."
  • language false0 Language: Mild language.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: References to coffee styles (not brands), Ghostbusters, Heineken.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false0 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Characters drink (beer in front of tv; one scene in a bar).
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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