It's RoDJ Thursday, and you know what that means. I was in a Robert Downey Jr mood anyway after watching Iron Man 2 (finally). This week's RoDJ Thursday movie is Heart and Souls, a 1993 feel-good flick about a shallow business-minded man named Thomas (Robert Downey Jr) who must help the four souls attached to him (Tom Sizemore, Kyra Sedgwick, Alfre Woodard and Charles Grodin) fulfill their dreams before they're whisked away to Heaven, and before Thomas' girlfriend (Elisabeth Shue) loses all patience with him.
Here're the deets:
Runtime: 104 minutes
Rated: PG-13
Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Charles Grodin, Elisabeth Shue, Alfre Woodard, Kyra Sedgwick, Tom Sizemore, David Paymer
Availability: DVD and Streaming
Veiwer Rating: 3.7
Netflix predicted rating for Lisa Ann: 3.9
Here's the trailer:
Aside from that they misspell the title of the movie during the whole thing until the title card at the end, the trailer hits on a lot of the best parts of the thing. I love pretty much everyone in this movie to start with, especially the leading man (if you haven't guessed by that we have a whole day devoted to him here at The Small Screen). It's good for pure fun, but if you want a deep, cerebral movie, this isn't it.
The best parts of the movie are 1) the interactions of the four spirits with young Thomas, played by the adorable Eric Lloyd of "The Wonder Years," and 2) anytime a spirit takes over older Thomas' body. Although some viewer reviews question RoDj's savvy at choosing this movie (it's not exactly award-winning material), there's no doubt that the role showcases his uncanny ability to take on any persona he likes at the drop of a hat. Here's a clip of him being possessed by Kyra Sedgwick and Tom Sizemore in a board meeting.
As the movie goes on, as you might have guessed, each soul fulfills his or her final wishes and is taken to Heaven on a big bus (?? just go with it), leaving a progressively more soft-hearted Thomas in their wake, which puts him in the perfect position at one hour thirty-two minutes for Elisabeth Shue to remember what she loves about him and accept him for who he is, now that he's more like she wanted. Aww.
Here're the deets:
Runtime: 104 minutes
Rated: PG-13
Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Charles Grodin, Elisabeth Shue, Alfre Woodard, Kyra Sedgwick, Tom Sizemore, David Paymer
Availability: DVD and Streaming
Veiwer Rating: 3.7
Netflix predicted rating for Lisa Ann: 3.9
Here's the trailer:
Aside from that they misspell the title of the movie during the whole thing until the title card at the end, the trailer hits on a lot of the best parts of the thing. I love pretty much everyone in this movie to start with, especially the leading man (if you haven't guessed by that we have a whole day devoted to him here at The Small Screen). It's good for pure fun, but if you want a deep, cerebral movie, this isn't it.
The best parts of the movie are 1) the interactions of the four spirits with young Thomas, played by the adorable Eric Lloyd of "The Wonder Years," and 2) anytime a spirit takes over older Thomas' body. Although some viewer reviews question RoDj's savvy at choosing this movie (it's not exactly award-winning material), there's no doubt that the role showcases his uncanny ability to take on any persona he likes at the drop of a hat. Here's a clip of him being possessed by Kyra Sedgwick and Tom Sizemore in a board meeting.
Annnd here's a collection of clips of the whole Walk Like A Man theme:
As the movie goes on, as you might have guessed, each soul fulfills his or her final wishes and is taken to Heaven on a big bus (?? just go with it), leaving a progressively more soft-hearted Thomas in their wake, which puts him in the perfect position at one hour thirty-two minutes for Elisabeth Shue to remember what she loves about him and accept him for who he is, now that he's more like she wanted. Aww.
For me, the beauty of this feel-good flick is that whatever RoDJ felt about doing it, whether he had fun or just needed the paycheck, he made me believe he was into it.
Then again, I basically believe characters in movies are real people, so I'll believe anything.
SO. Queue it, or can it? If you want a pick me up, if you at all admire RoDJ and want to see him play in turns a shifty ballsy thief, a shy aspiring singer-man, a loving and desperate mother, and a woman with long-lost-love syndrome - oh, and of course the staple hollow-hearted business man with commitment issues and a girlfriend who wants him to meet the folks. If you can stand early 90s-era notions of "cool" and dig a bit of 50s flavour with your cheese. Queue it.
