Caution: While this story casts cynicism aside, it takes a bit of patience to follow. Downey is the only cynic in the film (at least in the beginning), but after his special encounters with four 'heavenly' strangers, his life is changed, perhaps for the better. That's the beauty of this movie. It is handled with deft physical comedy (Downey's table-tumbling at a stuffy board meeting as the result of souls invading his body is on a par with Chaplin and Keaton), but it is also one of the most loving stories with truly loving characters (even Sizemore) I've ever seen. The four vignettes with Sizemore (making a former bad deed right), Grodin (overcoming stage fright), Woodard (finding her children), and Sedgewick (tracking down the one that got away) are quite nice, even bewitching. Bewitching is the only way I can describe a moment like Woodard's recognition of a lost son or Sedgewick being granted a moment of mortal embrace- even if just for a second or two. This film will make you shed a few tears, if not downright bawl, but you'll be smiling- and that's no matter how many times you watch. So watch. Smile. Show your teeth.
