| Overall Grade: |
A+ |
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| Story: |
A |
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| Acting: |
A+ |
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| Direction: |
A |
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| Visuals: |
A |
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Love shall light the way and dispell the darkness
by Blanche Rose (movies profile)
Sep 12, 2009
3
of
3 people found this review helpful
Sam Wheat (Patrick Swayze) has it all:
A good job at the bank.
A beautiful girlfriend named Molly
A devoted best friend, Carl.
And a recently-moved-into New York flat that has been vacant for eighty years.
Molly (Demi Moore) adores him, but wishes he would be more expressive of his feelings instead of just answering "Ditto" whenever she says she loves him.
Carl (Tony Goldwyn) likes to ogle hot Ferrari's he can't afford, and makes sick jokes in elevators about a rash that's so bad that "the doctor says I shouldn't have come to work today...He also says I shouldn't touch anyone." Carl ellaborates before 'accidentally' touching everyone.
Meanwhile, Sam's job at the bank has taken an interesting turn as there appears to be too much money in certain accounts.
Carl graciously offers to take over, as the work is going to take hours but Sam refuses, and (having been made suspicious by the excessive amounts of cash) changes the password to the accounts.
That night, he and Molly go to the theater to see Macbeth.
On the walk home, Molly says:
"I want to marry you Sam."
An argument insues, in which Molly accuses him of never saying he loves her.
"People say 'I love you' all the time," Sam says
"and it doesn't mean anything."
"Yes. But sometimes you need to hear it."
It is then that we first glimpse Willie Lopez (Rick Aviles) standing ominously on a dark and desserted street corner, and we know immediately, that something bad is about to happen.
Molly sees him, and says to Sam "Let's go." But the couples' increasingly hurried walk isn't fast enough to avoid the devastating next few minutes.
Willie pulls a gun on Sam, and demands that he hand over his wallet. When Sam tries to negotiate the contents, Willie shoots him and runs. Sam runs after him, and for a brief flickering moment both he and the audience think that he has escaped alive...
Then we see Molly sobbing over Sam's body, and Sam realizes he's nothing but a ghost.
In the Emergency Room, Sam encounters another ghost who's 'waiting for his wife', and who lets Sam in on a little secret:
"Doors aren't that hard. You'll see. You'll get used to it."
And Sam's horror at his new state is confirmed when an orderly wheels a gourney right through his now substanceless form.
After the funeral (from which the title of this review is taken) Carl convinces Molly to go for a walk with him, and while the flat sits empty, Willie Lopez uses a key to get in.
This is when Sam (who's never left his girlfriend's side) first attempts to walk through a door...
To his horror Molly comes home right at that moment, and though he tries to warn her about Willie's prescence in the house, she's unable to hear him.
Miraculously, after being clawed by the cat, Willie leaves, and Sam follows him, with Molly oblivious to what just happened.
It is now, that the story take a more intersting (and humorous) turn.
Across the street from Willie's place, is a Mystic Shop run by none other than Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg), a phony psychic who spends her days 'pretending' to get in touch with the dear departed husbands of widows and the like.
Her customer on this occasion is a Mrs. Santiago who anxiously wants to talk to her man Julio.
Sam (not knowing what else to do) is in the shop to see if Oda can do anything to help him.
Oda puts on a great show for Mrs. Santiago,
and this has got to be one of the most hysterical scenes in movie history.
She squeezes her eyes shut. Convulses. Squashes the hands of her two sisters, who praise God, while she, dressed in a golden chaffon robe, says how difficult this is.
Then, just as one of the sisters is about to refund the money:
"No,no,no! Wait! I'm getting something!"
Sam voices his disbelief (which Oda Mae hears although she thinks it's someone at the table).
Then she goes back to saying how difficult it is.
"I pay more!" the widow says eagerly.
Oda Mae opens an eye.
"Oh I don't know! It's so trying!" Oda Mae says perfunctorily.
"How much?" Mrs. Santiago asks
"Twenty dollars!"
"Way to go," Sam says "Milk her for every penny."
Things get easier for Oda Mae after that, although she's irritated at her critic whom she still doesn't realize is a ghost.
She gives some erroneous information about Julio (which she then has to play off), and when Sam cries that it's a bunch of baloney, Oda Mae finally loses it and cries:
"WHO IS THAT?"
From then on, Sam glues himself to her, insisting that she warn Molly about the danger.
At first Molly refuses, but when Sam drives her crazy singing 'I'm Henry the Eighth I am', she finally agrees.
"Anything! Just DON'T sing anymore."
But the circumstances surrounding Sam's death prove to be much more complicated than they appear on the surface,and soon everyone is in danger with Sam doing his best to keep his loved ones alive.
Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore are terrific in this movie. But it is Whoopi Goldberg (who won a well deserved Oscar for this) who ultimately steals the show. Her role is funny, unpredictable and original, and without her the movie would not have been the classic that it is.
It one of those rare exceptions where comedy, romance and drama all blend together in perfect harmony.
Terrific. Will always be a classic! |
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