Just Like Heaven is kind of a tough call. As a date movie/rom-com it works well enough, but I found myself struggling with the been there done that nature of the plot. Not to mention the been there done that character that Witherspoon keeps trotting out. The perky, workaholic, anal-retentive control-freak. Although her pairing with Mark Ruffalo (the sultan of somber and sultry indie downers) was a wise move. In spite of the uphill climb presented by some of the dialogue, the odd couple do manage a fair amount of lively and believable chemistry.

The film starts with a car accident that claims the life of Witherspoon's character - an energetic E.R. doctor named Elizabeth Mortenson. While the doctor is off in Limbo for a spell, her bereaved family lets her apartment to Ruffalo - a bereaved sad-sack in his own right as the result of his wife's recent death. The comic hyjinx kick in when Witherspoon (who has no idea that she's dead ala. Bruce Willis character in the Sixth Sense) shows up at her apartment just like any other day, to find that someone is eating her porridge.

If you're rolling your eyes at a premise that goes all the way back to the Ghost and Mrs. Muir, to Topper, to Chris Rock's regrettable remake of Heaven Can Wait - there is a few fresh notions at play. For example, Ruffalo is the only person who can see his ghost and she is incapable of touching physical objects - her hand goes right through the telephone etc. Director Mark Waters (Mean Girls, Freaky Friday) loses a few continuity points, in my book as Reese has no problem sitting in Ruffalo's car or on a park bench. True I'm knit-picking - but as many times as this schtick has been done, I think it pays to stay true to the supernatural rules you set for yourself.

As if finding out your dead isn't bad enough, Reese is also plagued by amnesia - she has no idea who she was when she was among the quick. Thus the second act of the film is about Ruffalo helping her find out who she was when she was living, while searching for a reason to go on living himself. Their voyage of discovery is aided at one point by a loopy spiritualist played by Jon Heder - proving that there is life beyond Napoleon Dynamite. His turn is fun just because it's him - but it isn't terribly well written, but I came away with the opinion that Nappy D has got a future as an actor.

It is truly Ruffalo who keeps this thing singing. Though he's forced to recite dialogue like "You're like an AM radio that someone crammed in my head and I can't turn off." his physical schtick is right on the money. His continuous reactions to her presence and his ability to convey emotions without words is the glue that keeps the film from falling apart. The reason for Reese being stuck in Limbo and the fact that she doesn't "feel" dead - why, it turns out she's in a coma. The final act of course being a race against time in order to keep our "tween queen" from getting the plug pulled on her.

I will admit that writers did buckle down and brought the film to a pretty fun and satisfying ending (yes it's a happy one). Though they did indulge in the seemingly requisite scene where our troubled would-be couple must suffer through a lonely night without each other. Accompanied, of course, by the perfect doleful pop song. Waters keeps the pop songs coming fast and furious in Just Like Heaven - at times seeming more adept with his ipod than the camera lens and yes there is a version the Cure's title song.

I've yet to mention Donal Logue who is Ruffalo's "start living your life again - coach." He is to this film what John Candy was to Splash. Logue is one of those actors who usually does a decent job, but every so often you'd just like to take him down with a whiffle bat. Not the case here, in fact he comes off with the films funniest line during the frantic race to save Lizzie.

The writers even offer a bit of a ersatz metaphysical reason why Ruffalo could see Reese while no one else could. It was a little too scripty for me, but it left things tied in a perfect bow for the actors to bow out on. Overall quite an enjoyable diversion. It sure will be nice to see Reese's take on June Carter, in Walk The Line. I've got a good feeling about that one. I saw a trailer for it, and I just got shivers - it was like she finally found the role that will take her up to the next level. Who knows?