The only reason I couldn't totally pan this film is because of my huge respect and love for Meg Ryan and Nicholas Cage. These two fine actors rarely get the kudos they so richly deserve. However, after making this movie I'm surprised they're still working at all. Now was it really that bad? No. But it's neither what I expected nor what I wanted to see. A powerful love story? Perhaps to some people. However, how many movies extolling the beauty, mystery and preciousness of life do we need to see? I know all about that, I'm living. Certainly we need reminders, but I'd rather get a swift kick in the ass than have to sit through a brooding, mopey movie like this.

It's obvious they were trying to go for the cerebral thing, but that doesn't make for a romantic or enjoyable experience. The film shakes up the regular romance formula by making Cage an angel named Seth who helps the newly dead cross over from one world to the next. He has no past, no future, no likes or dislikes. Basically no personality because he's not human and never has been. This is one of the main problems with this movie. Granted it's an interesting idea, an angel wanting to be human, to experience life. Yet it doesn't pan out.

Every time Seth picks someone up, he asks them what the best thing about life is. Maybe if he also asked what the worst thing is, he wouldn't be so quick to rush into mortality. The filmmaker's ask us to make a big leap of faith, without much evidence, that this would be the best path for Seth. Why? Because he met Meg Ryan? Most men may agree with this choice, but it's not a big enough reason for me. They're trying to convince me that she's the only human being to capture his attention and passion throughout eternity? She's good, but come on. Ryan plays Maggie, a passionate surgeon who desperately fights for the lives of her patients. She is unable to accept death because she's a failure at her job if she can't prevent it.