Brilliant and touching

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

I read this book two years ago, and it was profound. I loved it then, and the movie was as accurate a portrayal as a movie could have been.The intention behind this story was to leave the viewer (reader) with a deeper sense of worth, of self, and of humility. I believe we are here to bring life into question....and we will leave this life to prepare for the answers.There are no accidents...this movie lifts the veil between a fearful mind, and an eager heart. It will make the humblest of men, Kings.If it does not wake you up inside, or leave you with a greater sense of Connectedness and Oneness...you have missed the message entirely.

This movie fails on so many levels. First, it is not at all as advertised. The description claimed it was a story about a man (Eddie) dying and meeting in Heaven five people who show him how he affected their lives. There is an implication it is uplifting. This is not true. Instead it is a depressing feel-bad movie about a man who dies and meets in Heaven five people who preach at him and show him their own deaths, and in two notable cases, how Eddie caused those deaths. The guy goes through the movie feeling worse and worse about himself until in the last minute the movie does a complete turnaround and you get about 5 seconds of "feel-good" instead of the feel-bad, but it's contrived and absurd. For the most part, this movie is an obnoxious, preachy guilt trip. It is also horrifically overly sentimental and smug in its sentimentality. You can tell the idiot who wrote the book was pretty much demanding a fistful of awards for his pretentious drek.The stories are ridiculous and contrived. They make more sense as parodies of bad Lifetime movie plots and reading reviews of it I see that it was, indeed, made for TV. At least that means no one actually spent money on gas or theater tickets for it. I kind of hate the word bathos, but this is one case where it is the only word that makes any sense as a description. And there are a couple of scenes that were clearly designed as sucker punches.The editing is choppy, especially the sound. I don't think this was done for effect, as it doesn't make sense that way. The art direction is acceptable, as are the costumes and sets. However the director doesn't really make very good use of the carnival/amusement park setting.The acting is mostly horrible, but given the bad script that may have been somewhat inescapable. On the plus side, Jeff Daniels and Callum Keith Rennie both do a fairly creditable job in a very small role and a rather important role respectively. However, Daniels's character does join the ranks of the arrogant and preachy at times. Rennie's, on the other hand, is a jerk but at least he plays the part fairly cleanly. On the very bad side, Jon Voight's pathetic, miserable Eddie makes no sense whatsoever. There is a complete disconnect between the character and the events of his life. And the scene where he plays Eddie forgiving his father made me cringe with extreme embarrassment for him. It should have been sweet and touching. Instead it is laughable. Then on the extremely horrible side we have Ellen Burnstyn. I do not think I have ever been quite so disappointed in an actress. She's usually wonderful, but in this turkey she's completely foul. She comes off as smug, arrogant and patronizing. Her narration is like nails scratching a chalkboard.The acting is mostly awful, the script is something the writer should be horribly ashamed of, and the advertising for it is flat out false and misleading. I usually like uplifting movies, so the awfulness of this thing was that much more disappointing.In summary: Worst movie I've seen in years.

I have never read the book, nor even heard of the book or this movie before. I saw it on the shelf of a local store selling DVDs last night and the title intrigued me so I bought it. I put the DVD in and began watching it as soon as I got home. It captivated my attention immediately and kept me in my seat the whole time till 12:30am when it finally ended. I caught myself crying several times, mostly near the end. I think everyone can relate to this movie, but I also think that the older you are, the more you will relate to this movie. This movie now goes on my favorite movies list. I will be encouraging my friends to watch it now, it is just that good.

Eddie learns a lesson from I think it was the first person he meets in heaven. He talks to him about sacrifice. He says sacrifice is the noblest thing we do as humans. We don't really lose anything, we just pass it on to someone else.Each person Eddie meets in heaven he must learn from. I personally, really appreciate the afore mentioned lesson and all the lessons in this movie. It was very uplifting and tries to tackle the very tough question: what do our lives really mean and matter? It goes a long a similar thread like M. Night Shyamalan's Signs. If you liked that one you'll appreciate this one. Likewise, it also does have a revelation at the end but you are pulled into Eddie's story from the beginning and you learn along the way with him.