Heart and Souls

Heart and Souls_360P

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source: Heart and Souls

Oh, Robert Downey Jr. is funny again in this one, and he plays a man who can see the ghosts, who have not yet fulfilled things they wanted to do in their lives, thanks to that sleazy bus driver. It begins as young Thomas Reily, he can see and talk to these beings, and he seems to learn a lot from them until a psychologist and others including his parents have become concerned, that he something is wrong, the ghosts have to leave now, leaving poor little Tom sad. Now he is an adult, and has forgotten about them, but wait, they appear again, and Tom somehow manages to see them again, and that's not it, the bus driver has returned saying, he's come to take them to Heaven, after all those years, idiot, says he was supposed to get them, but went seeing some relatives, and the ghosts are sore at him, so they made a deal, he'll get them once they complete what they've wanted do. And Tom should help them since he can only see them, at the same time trying get things right with his girlfriend. Overall this is a very touching and heart warming movie, and a very good comedy everyone can enjoy, not a lot of violence or swearing, so anyone can enjoy it. And the ending theme is also great and touching.

Caution: While this story casts cynicism aside, it takes a bit of patience to follow. Downey is the only cynic in the film (at least in the beginning), but after his special encounters with four 'heavenly' strangers, his life is changed, perhaps for the better. That's the beauty of this movie. It is handled with deft physical comedy (Downey's table-tumbling at a stuffy board meeting as the result of souls invading his body is on a par with Chaplin and Keaton), but it is also one of the most loving stories with truly loving characters (even Sizemore) I've ever seen. The four vignettes with Sizemore (making a former bad deed right), Grodin (overcoming stage fright), Woodard (finding her children), and Sedgewick (tracking down the one that got away) are quite nice, even bewitching. Bewitching is the only way I can describe a moment like Woodard's recognition of a lost son or Sedgewick being granted a moment of mortal embrace- even if just for a second or two. This film will make you shed a few tears, if not downright bawl, but you'll be smiling- and that's no matter how many times you watch. So watch. Smile. Show your teeth.

Quite possibly the most stupid and, more unforgivably, BORING movies I have ever seen. The only movie I've ever walked out on. The only other movie that comes close is the hugely overrated and idiotic Moulin Rouge. Awful.

If I were to describe this film in one sentence it would be: a typical Hollywood after death comedy that makes Mormonism look interesting. It is tempting to leave it at that but I will not. Heart and Soul is about four people who are killed in a bus accident in 1959 after the bus driver drives off of a bridge while perving on a woman in the car next to him. The four people on the bus are trapped around a baby who is born at that instant and travel around with him until he is grown up. Then one day the bus comes along and the four ghosts suddenly realise that they are meant to fulfil their unfulfilled dreams and thus have a second chance at life. Thus they must convince the baby, who is now an adult, a yuppie, and a snob, to help them. Now, the theologically sickening things about this film. First, everybody goes to heaven, no matter what they do. If they are bad, they have to do penance, such as driving a bus to pick up dead people, but they still all end up in heaven. There is no God or judgement, and as such it is a fantasy, and atheistic view of the after life. God exists but he is a nice cuddly person that lets us do what we want, and if we do something that is a bit bad, we suffer a little punishment, but generally hell does not exist. What is wrong with that? Well the fact is that I do believe in hell and in a God that is not only interventionist, but is actually sickened by the evil that we do. Without hell there is no judgement and without judgement everybody, no matter how evil they are, get away with what they did wrong. This is covered by the idea of purgatory. This is okay, but theologically incorrect. The bible says we are either for or against God, there is no halfway point, which is purgatory. If we ignore God then God will disown us. The second wrong this here is that God is generally a tolerant guy. God is far from tolerant. He is not at all tolerant with people rebelling against him in the same way that a government is not tolerant of people rebelling against them. For those that follow him, upon them he showers many blessings (though not necessarily in this life). For those who do not follow him with, he ejects from his kingdom, which a king has a right to do, and thus they must suffer for eternity. God is the rightful king. He created the universe and thus rules over it. To rebel God against the rightful king earns his anger, which a king has a right to do. This might seem harsh, but the truth is that God showered immense blessings on us in the beginning in the Garden of Eden and we turned from him by disobeying his one simple commandment: do not eat from the fruit in the middle of the garden. This movie also implies that we have a second chance if we die. We have none. When we die, all unfulfilled things remain unfulfilled. The only fulfilling thing in life is becoming a Christian because nothing else lasts after death. The second most fulfilling thing is to see others become Christians, and to build them up for that also lasts after death. Everything else will not come beyond death.

My original comment on this was deleted. As with the characters in the movie, this gives me a second chance. I admit that I am an admirer of Downey. He is one of our few actors that can do what I call folded acting: a self-awareness that communicates itself. This is just a kind of language of mental mathematics — one that I believe makes people more susceptible to addictive behavior. This film was done right after the rather amazing "Chaplin," but before it was released. I think it is pretty effective writing and I will recommend it on that score. But there are two scenes that really worked for me. One is the setup, the other the payoff. The setup is the six year old Downey sings in the bathroom with his four ghost friends. It is 1965 and we are singing "walk like a man," already an iconic song. The walls reverberate like schoolboy toilet walls do — or used to when they were 100% tile and urinals were lined up. It has energy. The boy actor is terrific. The joke at the time is a nun looks in and sees and hears only the boy. Mildly funny. Mildly endearing. Now move forward to later when the adult Downey re-encounters the ghosts. He has just done something companionable and likes hanging out. They are crossing Post street in San Francisco — a regular street. They break out into this song. The whole thing lasts only a minute or so before being interrupted by an iconic bus to heaven. But watch the ensemble do their strutting to the song, just as if they were still stuck in 1963, when the song appeared... except for Downey. Look at what he does here, hands in pockets singing the lead. When I saw this in 1993, I knew this man would be important. This 20 or 30 seconds. It is because the context is all about inhabiting bodies and carrying selves. He does the "oh gosh, now I'm someone else," bit with awareness of both beings. In this scene, he is three persons: the child, the adult, the actor. He spoke about this at the time. Here you can see virtually everything he brought to "Tropic Thunder." Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

1st watched 2/7/2002 - 4 out of 10(Dir-Ron Underwood): Sometimes funny but most of the time silly with not one but count them- four souls trapped down here to finish off some good work that needed to be done before they went to the afterlife(I think we've heard this before). The difference is that they had to manipulate and enter this one person's body and he(Downey Jr.) has to accomplish the good deeds. The best parts in this movie are when Downey Jr. is acting out the other character's and there is a funny scene that turns into a musical number using the song "Walk Like a Man." But besides this there isn't much else. Downey Jr. deserves better than this. None of his co-stars seem too into this picture and it shows in their performances. Granted what they have in a script doesn't help and the direction could have been better. This is yet another forgotten romantic-comedy that wastes it's talents.

I never even knew this movie existed until they showed it on TV here ... and I'm so glad they did! If they hadn't, I'd have missed out on something great. The story was wonderful, not just a comedy, but a meaningful comedy ... with laughter, tears, ... it says a lot about life. This is one movie which deserves more recognition.