Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
Shortly after David Abbott moves into his new San Francisco digs, he has an unwelcome visitor on his hands: winsome Elizabeth Masterson, who asserts that the apartment is hers -- and promptly vanishes. When she starts appearing and disappearing at will, David thinks she's a ghost, while Elizabeth is convinced she's alive.
Just Like Heaven is a pleasant but formulaic romantic fantasy that follows well-worn romcom and ghost-story conventions without meaningful subversion. Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo have genuine chemistry that elevates the material above average, and the San Francisco setting is used capably if not memorably. The cinematography is competent but unremarkable TV-movie level work. The premise — spirit inhabiting her own apartment, falling for the new tenant — is a serviceable hook borrowed from similar romantic fantasies, executed without much distinctive flair. The ending resolves predictably and tidily, hitting every expected beat of the genre without surprise. A crowd-pleasing but by-the-numbers entry in the mid-2000s romcom cycle.