aliciagissendaner Beautiful film. I've watched it over and over and over. It's a favorite of mine. The music always grabs my heart and the trials they go through to god eachother is real struggles we all go through and give up. It's just what you dream of that you meet someone to connect this way with. It's like the first time all the time.

last-unicorn-77 This is a thoughtful little romance. Timothy Hutton is decent as Mike and a little better as Elmo. Kelly McGillis is cloyingly sweet as Annie but okay as Ally. I like that she gets to learn some of life's hard lessons - heartbreak, the loss of a parent, etc. Her time on earth is about growing up, since she was a "new soul" in Heaven. I also appreciate the journey that these two souls are on, to find one another and make their karmic kind of bond eternal. These are things that many of us romantics have wondered when we contemplate true love and whether there is really one special person out there for us or not. This movie attempts to address that question with some metaphysical bedazzling. It doesn't really address religion, other than to guarantee (according to Annie) that there is a God overseeing it all. Reincarnation is a thing. Jesus is never mentioned once. The main angel is called "Emmet" (and since "he" is played by Debra Winger I guess we are to surmise that "he" is transgender or somehow binary sexual) while the devil is represented by a living temptation named "Lucille" (Ellen Barkin). Some of the musical choices are inspiring, particularly the original featured song "We Never Danced" - which is supposed to be Elmo's baby and comes to the film courtesy of Neil Young, who also has a cameo as a truck driver. The cameos themselves are entertaining also. I especially like seeing one of my favorite authors, Tom Robbins, as a toymaker in Heaven. Ric Ocasek as a mechanic (of course). And Tom Petty as a hustler in a bar who gets out-hustled by Lucille. I also appreciate Ann Wedgeworth and James Gammon, who lend a little bit of reality to the film. Unlike many viewers, I wish more time were spent on earth instead of in Heaven, and that the earthly plot moved faster. It is the periodic slow bits where the characters are half-remembering their heavenly existence that drags this part of the film down. It could have kept the same idea by inserting references without having to montage or flashback so much. We could have seen more growth for Annie/Ally and Mike/Elmo. And the ending? Ummm ... yeah. I can only surmise that they were hit by a bus. Seriously. I think they see each other on the street and get immediately hit by a bus. The film does not show this but neither did it show Mike drowning at the beginning. So here's my spoiler. You will watch this film waiting for the big romantic meeting and hoping to see them start a new life together at the end, holding out for hope and all that. Nope. Somehow they must die because they recognize each other and end up back in Heaven with little explanation as to what happened. So they were hit by a bus. Or an atomic bomb went off and we missed it. They both died simultaneously of premature heart attacks when they recognized each other? Somehow, this is not a happy ending for me. Final review: good premise, some highlights, flawed presentation, deus ex machina ending.

mrmodel I love this film. For those of us who have ever felt a little bit of "heaven" in our lives, this film feels very real. First, the settings on earth in what appear to be the 1950's seem quite real, for earth at the time. Then there's "heaven", shown to be a fantastical loving highly evolved place that exists only to inspire us here on earth to believe in ourselves, in something better, to have faith in a more positive future. Then our return from heaven to earth, with hope in our hearts and faith in our souls, ready to fight the fight we all must face while living our human lives. With what the heart feels in the form of pure love being the most profound and respected by those watching us from above. I highly recommend.

zaidarms1 and that is why i gave a 9....nonetheless for that portion of your humanity that craves and wishes for something totally apart from this world yet should come to exist in this world, this movie captures it very well. the actor's environment being started and portrayed a little more on the dark side gave the searching for his love greater intensity. What gave the movie an ever greater meaning was that "song", the singer's voice and the very significant title which gives the love story its peak when they did dance.Put in on DVD, please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and the song on CD!!!!!!!!!!!!!