Delayed Reaction: Heaven Can Wait

Premise: A football player is pulled up to heaven too soon then put into a new body as a compromise.

 

I know this is missing the point, but I spend so much of this movie bewildered by the idea that this got serious Oscar love. Like, it was one of the big Oscar players of that year. Probably second behind The Deer Hunter. I simply can't imagine a movie like this getting that much love now. I mean, maybe Lady Bird is the closest thing to this tone doing well with modern Oscar voters. That's not me saying the love was underserved for Heaven Can Wait. Just difficult to imagine.

 

This is a very efficient and entertaining movie. Warren Beatty, on the strength of Elaine May's script work, made a movie that hits every mark. It doesn't get bogged down in the mechanics of the afterlife. It was a bold choice to never show what Beatty's new body actually looks like. The chance to make a sight gag would've been too much for most filmmakers to resist but knowing what the new body looks like doesn't really matter. Beatty's onscreen charisma carries the movie. How the body-swapping all works really doesn't matter.

 

I do have one aspect of the story I can't resolve though. He gets that final body when another player on the Rams dies*. Part of the deal though is that his brain gets wiped soon after. How is that a new body for him then? I guess this is a brain vs. soul debate, but Beatty's character sure got the short end of that deal. Also, while his brain was wiped, no one else's was. So, Jack Warden's character gets to walk around with this knowledge but not the guy who actually lost his body? I suppose what I'm getting at is this isn't a good movie to pick at. Just enjoy it for the screwball escapism that it is.

 

*Were on-field deaths more common back then? Because everyone seemed way too chill for witnessing a death in-play during the Super Bowl.

 

Verdict: Weakly Recommend