Heaven Can Wait (1978) review

Really charming film, with Beatty dying at the wrong time (due to an error by Buck Henry, who's new at his job in heaven), and James Mason, playing Mr. Jordan (a la the film it's based on), having to correct things by finding Beatty a new body. I thought it would go south in a hurry, but is saved by Beatty, whose good-natured football hero makes the story work - he runs around, talks to spirits only he can see, and woos political activist Julie Christie ... and winds up playing in the Super Bowl. The rule remains: if I laugh, you win, and I laughed quite a lot; if you care to look "into" the film, it's also a pretty valid statement on the nature of identity and a warm (if naïve) view of how everything in life happens on purpose. Charles Grodin, and I never thought I'd say this, is fantastic in a loopy role as one of Beatty's would-be assassins.