Heart and Souls

Infobox Film
name = Heart and Souls


image_size = 200px
caption = Promotional one-sheet poster.
director = Ron Underwood
producer = Nancy Roberts
Sean Daniel
writer = Gregory Hansen
starring = Robert Downey Jr.
Charles Grodin
Alfre Woodard
music = Marc Shaiman
cinematography = Michael W. Watkins
editing = O. Nicholas Brown
distributor = Universal Pictures
released = June 24, 1993
runtime = 93 min.
country =
language = English
budget =
gross =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0107091

"Heart and Souls" is a 1993 fantasy/comedy film about the souls of four deceased people who are trapped on earth and can only be seen by a single living human being who is recruited to help them take care of their unfinished business. The movie was directed by Ron Underwood and was filmed in San Francisco, California.

Plot

In 1959, Eva and Frank Reilly are on their way to the hospital, as Eva is about to have their first child. Their car collides with a bus, and the bus is run off a bridge. Harrison (Charles Grodin), Julia (Kyra Sedgwick), Milo (Tom Sizemore), and Penny (Alfre Woodard) were passengers on the bus and they are all killed. Each one had unfinished business in their lives, and instead of going to heaven, they find themselves as ghosts, tied to the newborn Thomas Reilly.

Only Thomas is able to see them, and they act as his guides and guardian angels. However, when people show concern over Thomas' "imaginary" friends, they decide to hide themselves from him to avoid trouble. Thomas is devastated. Thirty years later, after finally learning that they were supposed to use their internment on Earth to resolve their remaining issues, they make themselves visible to Thomas (Robert Downey, Jr.) once more. By now, he is a cold, distant businessman having problems with his girlfriend Anne (Elizabeth Shue). Though reluctant at first, he eventually agrees to help each of them fulfill their final task. As they succeed (despite varying levels of difficulty) in tying up their decades-old loose ends, they are individually brought to heaven by the bus driver (his punishment for crashing the bus) in an emotional moment.

Milo, a petty thief, regrets a decision he made to steal valuable stamps, a family heirloom, from a child before he died. He possesses Thomas and steals the stamps back from his former boss, who still has them. He returns the stamps anonymously to their overjoyed owner.

Harrison was a would-be singer who was very talented, but had severe stage fright. He died shortly after giving up at an audition, unable to perform. After encouragement from Thomas and the others, he finally works up the nerve to sing the National Anthem at a BB King concert when Thomas sneaks on stage, and he is a big hit. Thomas is detained by the police, but he is satisfied that Harrison's final act was a success.

Penny had been spending her time with Thomas trying to discover the fate of her children. She hears that her daughters were adopted and are living happy lives, but can find nothing about her son Billy. In a chance encounter, the policeman who Thomas has had constant run-ins with sings a song to his baby daughter, the same song that Penny invented to sing to her son. She realizes that this cop is Billy, and possesses Thomas to tell Billy that she loves him. Billy is disoriented and not fully convinced by Thomas's weak cover story, but the message seems to get across. Penny's work is done.

Finally, Julia had been on the way to tell her ex-boyfriend she loved him, and that she had decided to marry him, when the bus crashed. Thomas takes her to the last-known location of the man, trying to outrun the ghost bus which has come for her. She takes control of him when they arrive and writes a letter to give to her fiancée under the cover that he found it. However, when he knocks on the door, the man who lives there reveals that her boyfriend died seven years ago. Thomas and Julia are stunned at the unfairness of it, until she realizes that coming here was meant to show Thomas that he shouldn't squander his relationship with Anne. The bus driver is pleased with this explanation and takes Julia away, leaving Thomas to patch things up with Anne.

Cast

*Robert Downey Jr. — Thomas Reilly
*Charles Grodin — Harrison Winslow
*Alfre Woodard — Penny Washington
*Kyra Sedgwick — Julia
*Tom Sizemore — Milo Peck
*David Paymer — Hal the Bus Driver
*Elisabeth Shue — Anne
*Bill Calvert — Mr. Reilly
*Lisa Lucas — Mrs. Reilly

Awards

Saturn Award - Robert Downey Jr. (Best actor in a leading role)

External links

*imdb title|id=0107091|title=Heart and Souls