Supposedly one of the titles bandied around before the filmmakers came up with Over Her Dead Body was Ghost Bitch. The switch might reflect the shift in focus from Eva Longoria Parker's gratingly one-note character to the awkward but rather endearing love story between Paul Rudd and Lake Bell.
Kate (Longoria Parker) is the ghostly character in question. A massively controlling bride-to-be, Kate dies on her wedding day, a few hours before she was scheduled to tie the knot, in a freak ice sculpture accident. The scenario sounds vaguely funny, but instead it's crushingly leaden. Things pick up and laughs begin to kick in when the action switches to her moping fiancé, Henry (Rudd).
Rudd has an easy charm and sharp comic timing that play best in such ribald comedies as Knocked Up and Anchorman. While Dead is a much more straight-ahead romantic comedy and is neither as offbeat nor as funny as either of those previous films, his appealing but slightly off-kilter presence improves this film considerably.
And his chemistry with co-star Bell, who plays a psychic named Ashley, enlivens what might have been a dully predictable tale of a vengeful scheming ex.
Though he's a confirmed skeptic, Henry agrees to see a psychic at the insistence of his well-meaning but meddlesome sister, Chloe (Lindsay Sloane). A year has passed since the accident, but Henry, a veterinarian, has grown increasingly reclusive. Chloe figures if he makes contact with his dead fiancée and she tells him it's time to move on, he might emerge from his slump and cheer up.
As it turns out, Henry does perk up, but not so much because of a message from beyond. He and the kooky Ashley hit it off, and a romance blossoms.
There's a forced complication involving the dead woman's diary and a bit of silly subterfuge, but most of the comedy centers on Kate coming back to Earth to haunt Ashley in creative ways. Kate may not be able to have Henry for herself, but she doesn't want anyone else to.
Though this all sounds fairly familiar and formulaic, there are a few bona fide laughs, some of which occur with the ghostly Kate in the same room with the amorous Ashley and Henry. Jason Biggs has a few humorous deadpan moments as Ashley's buddy and business partner.
Certainly, there are worse movies being released this time of year. This is clearly intended as a date movie, and at least there is genuine humor mixed in with the predictable story.
Though the tale may fall short on imagination, the principal actors make Over Her Dead Body livelier than one would expect. _________________ T.T.F.N.
William Pattison
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