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'Just like Heaven' is just like 'Topper'

The key to a good romantic comedy is starting with a sufficiently challenging obstacle for the would-be lovers to overcome.

And Just Like Heaven has a doozy, for landscape architect David Abbott (Mark Ruffalo) cannot live happily ever after with workaholic surgeon Elizabeth Martinson (perky though perplexed Reese Witherspoon) because she is dead. Well, sort of dead.

DreamWorks SKG 'Just Like Heaven' B The verdict: Even a coma cannot stop the perky Witherspoon in this romantic comedy from almost beyond the grave. Director: Mark S. Waters Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Mark Ruffalo, Donal Logue, Dina Waters, Ben Shenkman Run time: 95 minutes Release date: September 16, 2005 Rating: PG-13 for some sexual content. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate "Just Like Heaven"   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

Following a head-on collision with a truck, Elizabeth finds herself haunting David, the guy who sublet her terrific San Francisco apartment after she fell into a persistent coma. So while the movie, directed efficiently by Mark Waters (Freaky Friday, Mean Girls), spends a lot of time on the usual jokes of someone talking to a ghostly character that only he can see, Just Like Heaven is less a Topper tale than it is a variation on "The Terry Schiavo Story." Slightly edgier than anything Witherspoon has made since Election, it is still safely pro-love and pro-life, eventually opting for sentimental goo and a little New Age philosophy.

Still, Witherspoon's legions of fans will likely flock to see her in this well-tailored role made of a non-stretch fabric. (Those eager to see her test herself will have to wait for her as June Carter in Walk the Line this fall.) Nor is Ruffalo (You Can Count on Me) exactly breaking a sweat as befuddled, then swooning David, but the two of them do work together nicely.

Of course, there is something very comforting about thinking our minds will still work normally even if we do land in a coma, and Just Like Heaven is the cinematic equivalent of comfort food.