Heart and Souls

Omigod! I actually liked this movie.

Heart and Souls is the kind of sentimental, feel-good flick that’s usually sweet enough to cause a diabetic coma. The film could easily have drowned in its high-concept and excessive heart tugs.

But Heart and Souls successfully sidesteps most of its potential pitfalls. Even the predictable recycling of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons’ hit “Walk Like a Man” slips by as a modestly funny gesture. Besides, the song contains a mixture of dorkiness and emotional rawness that fits the mood of the movie quite well.

The story is simple. A bus crash sends four souls into a state of limbo on earth. The accident that killed them also resulted in the birth of Thomas, a young boy who these disembodied souls find themselves mysteriously drawn to. It’s not until Thomas is a young man that the spirits discover the reason for their attachment: they are to work through him to resolve their previous life, so that they can reincarnate to the next one.

On paper, Heart and Souls sounds like a New Age bestseller by Shirley MacLaine. The script begs comparison to Ghost, and the Steve Martin comedy All of Me. In many ways, the movie resembles a supernatural variation of the Quantum Leap TV series (for instance, the film shares the show’s peculiar charm).

Charles Grodin, Kyra Sedgewick, Alfre Woodard and Tom Sizemore are the very living – and slightly baffled – dead. It’s through their characters (especially Grodin and Woodard’s) that Heart and Souls achieves most of its wit and warmth. They may be souls on ice, but they know how to have fun.

Robert Downey Jr., as the adult Thomas, has the weakest role in the film. Downey is one of the better “brat pack” actors, but he’s not versatile enough to handle the radical personality changes required when the different souls enter his body. His character’s life resolution plays as a minor, belated climax.

Heart and Souls is a good test of director Ron Underwood’s ability to mine gold from a seemingly depleted vein. His production of Tremors was a throwback to the giant-mutant-beastie flicks, but its strong characterizations and plot made it fresh. Likewise, his hit City Slickers glided smoothly through what should have been the rough waters of weak material.

With Heart and Souls, he proves once again his ability to make a film that should have failed succeed.