Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Brainsbell The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

sol- Drawn to the soul of a newly born baby, four acquaintances in limbo who died in a bus crash gradually realise their true purpose in this quirky and unusual blend of comedy and fantasy elements. The film takes a long time to warm up with seventeen minutes elapsing before the crash; the movie also turns a tad too sentimental for its own good towards the end. The vast majority of 'Heart and Souls' though is highly captivating stuff with the film achieving much comedic mileage from the newborn's shenanigans when primary school aged and when, as an adult, the foursome discover that they can possess his body. While a funnier film could have easily been carved from the dear departed possessing his body as a child, Robert Downey Jr. admittedly hits the nail on the head, perfectly capturing the characteristics of all four when they at various points possess him. Tom Sizemore additionally brings large doses of comedy as the loudest and most outspoken dear departed soul, constantly dragged along the ground as the foursome find themselves unable to stay more than a few metres away from the newborn. Some have questioned the theological aspects of the film with the notion of being able stall or procrastinate their souls passing on certainly coming off as awkward at best, but this is a highly enjoyable film if one does not think about it too much. Particularly appealing is the camaraderie that develops between the highly diverse characters who in their everyday lives would have probably never ever spoken to one another.

SnoopyStyle It's 1959 San Francisco. Penny Washington (Alfre Woodard) leaves her three children to work the night shift. Harrison Winslow (Charles Grodin) abandons his singing audition. Julia (Kyra Sedgwick) turns down her boyfriend's proposal. Petty thief Milo Peck (Tom Sizemore) tries to get back some stamps that he stole from a boy. They all get on the same bus that crashes into the Reillys on their way to the hospital. She is forced to give birth on the side of the road. The four bus passengers are stranded as ghosts in the world connected to baby Thomas Reilly. The kid gets in trouble and the ghosts agree to stay invisible for the good of Thomas. Thomas (Robert Downey Jr.) grows up to be a ruthless corporate banker. His girlfriend Anne (Elisabeth Shue) asks him to meet her parents. The bus driver comes back to pick them up. The ghosts are suppose to resolve their one issue but no angel came to explain it. So he gives them some additional time to finish.RDJ gets to do some big time acting pretending to be the four other characters. There is just too many stories to go through. It's not as funny as it wants to be. The ghosts leaving one at a time makes it feel anti-climatic. The story feels like it's slowly fading away. It would be better if they have a ticking clock and the ghosts stick together for the whole movie. It's a good movie for RDJ fans.

SillyPuddy The first hour of this feature film was intriguing and entertaining thanks to a wonderful cast of characters brought together by circumstance. Robert Downey Jr. appears and things seem to go off track with the car scene. But I was willing to tolerate one such scene to reintroduce the characters to him. However, they decided to raise the stakes of stupidity with the conference room scene. Now, I feel like there was a tasteful way to play this scene that could of made it classic (sort of like the dinner scene in Nutty Professor or the courtroom scene from Liar Liar). Sadly, it wasn't played like that at all and it just struck me as ridiculous and worse, tedious (totally inconsistent with the first half of the movie). He makes inappropriate advances on two coworkers and makes a huge spectacle of himself all of which I found cringe-worthy. This seemed nothing more than a vehicle for Robert Downey Jr. to showcase his array of talents. I've seen this before where young actors are used/exploited for these purposes. The problem for me is that while I like Downey as an actor and find him charming, I don't find him particularly funny. He is not John Ritter or even Jim Carrey. I understand they needed a bridge to the rest of their movie where he no doubt decides to help his old friends but it just didn't work for me. Too bad since I feel it was a missed opportunity.

Claudio Carvalho In 1959, in San Francisco, the telephone operator Penny Washington (Alfre Woodard) leaves her three children to work in her night shift. The shy singer Harrison Winslow (Charles Grodin) is afraid of the stage and quits his audition. The waitress Julia (Kyra Sedgwick) is proposed by her boyfriend and she does not accept; then she regrets and leaves her job to seek him out. The smalltime thief Milo Peck (Tom Sizemore) tries to retrieve a valuable collection of stamps that he had stolen from a boy. They embark in a bus and the driver Hal (David Paymer) distracts while driving and has a serious accident, and driver and passengers die. Meanwhile, Frank Reilly (Bill Calvert) is driving his pregnant wife Eva Reilly (Lisa Lucas) to the hospital. Frank successfully escapes from the bus but Eva is nervous and delivers her baby in the car. The souls of the four passengers become the guardian angels and the invisible friends of the boy Thomas Reilly. Seven years later, Penny, Julia, Harrison and Milo conclude that they are harming the boy and they decide to become invisible also to him.Thirty and something years later, Hal returns with his bus to take them four and the quartet learns that they had all those years to resolve the issues of their lives. They ask Hal to stall and give some more time for them to resolve their unfinished lives and they decide to come back to Thomas (Robert Downey Jr.), who is now a tough businessman and indecisive in his relationship with girlfriend Anne (Elisabeth Shue), and ask him to help them to resolve their issues and become free souls. In the end, Thomas also becomes a better man."Heart and Souls" is one of the most adorable films of the 90's. The writer uses the central idea of the successful "Ghost" (1990) to make a witty and delightful comedy, with state-of-art special effects in 1993.Kyra Sedgwick, Tom Sizemore, Alfre Woodard, Charles Grodin and Robert Downey Jr. show an amazing chemistry and they really seem to have fun while shooting this film. Kyra Sedgwick shows a beautiful smile and Robert Downey Jr. is hilarious. The cameo of B.B. King is a plus that gives the status of cult to this film. The message in the end is very nice and I do not recall how many times I have seen "Heart and Souls" on VHS in the 90's. Yesterday I saw it on DVD for the first time and I only regret that there are no extras, only the film. My vote is nine.Title (Brazil): "Morrendo e Aprendendo" ("Dying and Learning")