Romance.
Rated PG-13 for thematic elements involving death, some disturbing images and language.
Starring: Robin Williams , Cuba Gooding Jr. , Max von Sydow , Jessica Brooks , Annabella Sciorra .
Directed by Tom Voth , Vincent Ward and Eduardo Serra .
Produced by Stephen Simon and Barnet Bain .
Written by Richard Matheson , Ronald Bass and Richard Matheson .
Distributor: PolyGram Films

    At what point in my short history of being a reviewer did I become a special effect nazi?  Believe it or not folks I am not sent here by some anti-special effects organization who is out to protect the real actors of the world against the likes of Gremlins and computer generated dinosaurs.  And in reality they are very prevalent in this movie, but I am in no way bitter about it.  I can't even criticize them for marketing special effects as the main selling point because they have Robin Williams and Cuba Gooding Jr. (both Oscar winners) in the cast.

    I think this movie gives stupid moviegoers a unique opportunity to feel smart.  While superior moviegoers will look for symbolism in films like "American Beauty", people who well...  lack intelligence can get their jolliness off finding symbolism here.  The reason they can is because the "symbolism" is served to them on a silver platter.  Oh look he likes painting in real life, so now that he's in Heaven he's living in a painting...  the director is a genius!!!  Seriously, at times the movie was nearly insulting to your intelligence.

    The movie plot is pretty damn easy to swallow.  Chris Nielsen (Williams) loses his kids in a car crash then a few years later he dies, leaving his wife with nobody.  When he is first in Heaven he tries to connect with his wife but only finds that doing more damage than good.  Under the intense stress of losing her whole family, his wife commits suicide...  and well...  thus buys herself a one way ticket straight to Hell.  Here is where our conflict is born and our favorite stud Robin Williams decides to rescue her.

    I think that the absolute best thing about this movie is its interpretation of what Heaven and Hell is.  Is Heaven simply a place where your imagination dictates everything you see?  Is Hell a place where you have no mind control and you are trapped in your life gone wrong?  It also begs a very thought provoking question: What is reality, our mental perception of the world or the physical world we live in?  It is also easy to swallow, which may be good or bad based on what you're in the mood for.  The story is enjoyable...  thats not saying much, but it is a plus.

    With the good...  always comes the bad.  They demote Cuba Gooding Jr. to some kind of cheerleader.  He spends the whole movie urging Chris Nielsen to do whatever he wants... blah blah blah...  whatever.  They must have also been endorsed by some wacko religious group who thinks that it's an excellent idea to paint Hell as not that bad.  Not to mention a whole scene is devoted to explaining why it's okay to send suicides to Hell.  Had they said "We don't agree with it, that means you have to go to Hell," I would've respected it a lot more.  Instead they sit there and bullshit the audience feeding them crap about suicide victims being a different kind of person.  Also, the character switches throughout are unnecessary and primarily thrown in for shock value.  There is also the fact that eye candy is in abundance...  and well...  there's no denying that at times the movie showed special effects for no other reason than to flaunt it.

    So in the end I'm gonna cut it perfectly down the middle and give it a five.  Enjoyable enough, Robin Williams, interesting views of the after life, but in the end nothing special.

Rating:  5.0

- Chris Roberts