A 1987 American fantasy-comedy directed by Alan Rudolph that has a young man (Timothy Hutton) reincarnating in order to find the woman (Kelly McGillis) he loves on Earth.
The movie also stars Maureen Stapleton as Aunt Lisa, Ann Wedgeworth, James Gammon, Mare Winningham, Don Murray, Tim Daly, David Rasche and Amanda Plummer. Neil Young, Tom Petty and Ric Okasek of The Cars have brief roles.
It was released November 6, 1987.
Tropes for the film:
- Creator Cameo:
- Mark Isham, who wrote the score for the movie, appears as a keyboard player.
- As mentioned above, Neil Young (who wrote the song "We've Never Danced" that plays in the movie) appears briefly as a truck driver who picks up Mike when he's hitch-hiking.
- Deliberately Monochrome: The opening sequence of the movie, showing Mike on Earth, is in black-and-white, to set up how magical heaven looks when he gets there. When Mike and Annie first appear on Earth as children, it's shot in black-and-white as well.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Mike dies saving the lives of a woman and her two children when their car goes over the bridge into the water.
- I Always Wanted to Say That: A variation - when Mike and Annie tell an angel about the wedding ceremony they've planned and how they want him to officiate, the angel admits, "I always wanted to do that." Unfortunately, he doesn't get to do it, as Annie gets sent down to Earth.
- Love Transcends Spacetime: When Annie incarnates for the first time (leaving Heaven in the process), Mike reincarnates to be with her; Emmett (a stand-in for God, although he says that he is not God) warns him that they only have 30 years to meet. The searching is the basis for the entire movie. Eventually, when they see each other on the street, they remember their past in Heaven, including their love.
- A non-romantic example from earlier in the film: While hitch-hiking, Elmo meets Mike's now-elderly parents, who kindly give him a ride for part of his journey. During that ride, Mike's mother confides in this complete stranger that she is terminally ill, something she has not even told her husband. Nothing is explicitly stated, but the implication is that she is unconsciously aware that she is talking to her son.
- Meet Cute: Played with, when the couple meets, falls in love and gets married in heaven. However, Annie is sent down to Earth. Mike goes down to find her and the pair (now Ally and Elmo) must Meet Cute by the time he is 30. So, basically, Meet Cute drives the main plot of the entire film.
- Missed Him by That Much: When they're down on Earth, Mike and Annie almost meet twice. The first time is when Mike has just gotten out of the army, and is about to wander into Annie while she's with Tom when a couple of Mike's old army buddies run into him. The second time is when Mike is playing the trumpet while unbeknownst to him, Annie is sitting in the car with Donald (David Rasche) and talking, and the two never look at each other. The third time's the charm.
- Mundane Afterlife: Heaven has a wide variety of places, but each one is pretty much Earth-like with a few extra abilities, like the ability to create objects mentally, and you can go on learning, helping others, even inventing things; it's close to Emanuel Swedenborg's ideas of the afterlife. Mike falls in love with tour guide Annie, a new soul who has not yet been incarnated, and builds a house for her before she is incarnated to Earth, and the main plot begins (where he must incarnate to find her).
- Naked First Impression: When a real estate agent is showing Annie a house, they turn a corner and run into Donald, who's just taken a shower and is wearing nothing except a towel. The real estate agent faints in reaction.
- Naked on Arrival: When he dies, Mike arrives in Heaven completely naked. While his Aunt Lisa is happy to see him, after they greet each other, she immediately gives him a robe to put on.
- Reincarnation: Mike drowns after saving some people. In Heaven, he meets his One True Love. She incarnates for the first time, while he begs Emmett (who specifically says he is not God) for a way to reunite with her, and is allowed to reincarnate early to try finding her.
- Reincarnation Romance: There is a Reincarnation/Incarnation Romance. After Mike dies in a Heroic Sacrifice, he goes to Heaven and meets his One True Love, Annie, a newborn female soul yet to be conceived on Earth. They fall in love and get married, but Annie is sent to incarnate for her first time on Earth; Mike chooses to reincarnate to find her, and is given 30 years to do so. They find each other just as the deal is about to expire.
- Shipper on Deck: Though Emmett is the one who told Mike he only had 30 years to find Annie, when he sees Mike in a bad way, he tells Mike he's rooting for him and Annie to get together.
