jDriftyx82 Due to the success of Mitch Albom's books. It was a dream that they would turn into movies.Being that Tuesdays With Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven are two of my favorite books, I was rather excited that they turned into movies. Unfortunately, I have not seen Tuesdays With Morrie (1999).Being that The Five People You Meet in Heaven is one of my favorite books, I was a little disappointed, but I still really liked the movie.The movie is a TV Movie, so it doesn't have the great budget and quality it deserves. But the cinematography is great.Five People is about how each person we meet, though appearing insignificant, are part of the vast web of interconnection that affects our life. Jon Voight plays Eddie, an 83-year old mechanic who has worked at the Ruby Pier Amusement Park all his life except for a stint in the army during World War II. The first thing we learn about Eddie is that he is dead, killed in a roller coaster accident while trying to save a little girl.The next thing we find out is that, in heaven, Eddie will meet and talk with five people who were the most influential in his life, people Eddie would probably not think of first, but whose influence becomes slowly and painstakingly revealed. As he re-experiences traumatic events from the past, it soon becomes clear that what they share with him allows him to complete and illuminate the past. Eddie meets "The Blue Man" (Jeff Daniels), part of the sideshow at the park, his Army captain (Michael Imperioli), his wife Marguerite (Dagmara Dominczyk) who died after only a few years of marriage, the wife of the original owner of the Ruby Pier (Ellen Burstyn), and a little Filipino girl named Tala (Nicaela and Shelbie Weigel).The Five People You Meet in Heaven is well worth the watch.

Jennifer (LadySailor1975) This is one of the best movies that exists! Jon Voight is an awesome actor and he played the role so very well. In this movie, Eddie (Voight) is a maintenance worker at a small amusement park on a pier. A nice man yet not happy with his life, he feels trapped and feels that he didn't accomplish what he had wanted when he was young. As he is working one day, he sacrifices his own life as he tries to save a young child from a potentially life-threatening situation. This begins his journey to Heaven. Along the way, he meets five people that show him he was right where he belonged and right where God wanted him all along. He learns some truths behind some of the saddest and some of the happiest times of his life. Beautifully written with wonderful acting, this movie will move you. Even if you are not religious, you will love every second of this movie.

drbagrov Mr. Mitch Albom is the author of one great book ("Tuesdays with Morrie")and a few good books,of which "Five People..." is one.The same concerns the screen adaptations:the former (starring the incomparable Jack Lemmon)is a great one , though much, much underestimated by critics and audience;the latter is just a decent effort to illustrate the book.The difference is obvious: "Tuesdays" is a true story of a real life, wonderfully ( and simply) written, wonderfully ( and without that cheap Hollywood sentimentality) and simply put on the screen, while "Five People" is a piece of fiction with quite a bit of sentimentality, which was (quite naturally for Hollywood!)made into a tear-jerker.True, the acting is good (just good ),the colours are disgustingly bright and suggestive (believe me, the audience are not all fools to be reminded every minute , which part is Heaven, which is the good old Earth,etc),the plot line is not broken, the characters are more or less recognizable ( compared with the book),but there is always an after-taste of something inappropriately sweet that has been swallowed, and this diminishes the otherwise good work of the team of true professionals.While"Tuesdays with Morrie" was in many ways an eye-opener ("Wow, we still have great teachers of life among us!","What a magnificent life lived!","What a wonderful lesson of complete self-sacrifice!"))and a challenge to all Hollywood clichés,"Five People" deals with a pretty banal idea of interconnection of all things and people in the Universe and - as a film version - follows all the traditions of the Hollywood melodrama.And yet,in our age of extinct kindness and sympathy, such books and films should be more than welcome- just as a reminder that we still belong to the human race.

ell_wu I have a confession to make. I'm a cynical person. I've been a cynic for a good part of the past decade. Inside me is not a beating heart but lump of coal, ice cold to the touch long since passed from years of apathy...and then I watched this movie, and now I feel like the friggin' Grinch with a heart 3 times larger.Honestly though, this movie is a tear jerker, but also a thinker. It really makes you ponder about the after-life, but more importantly, it makes you wonder about your past and what ones life means.Throughout the film, Jon Voight's character continuously questions and doubts the meaning of his own existence, and whether it was well spent. the conclusion to it while is no surprise, the journey that he must take to rediscover who he was, who he is, what what his life meant was nothing if not awe inspiring.A quick look at the message board will show that the current highest post count thread in there is "who will be your five people?", perhaps the greatest testament to the power that this film has on lifting the spirit, and the contemplation that this movie invokes.