So you may be wondering why I am not reviewing a new movie? Well in all honestly I don't have the time. In addition there just aren't any movies coming out I have any interest in watching and when you are not paid to review titles..at a minimum you need to be sent to movies you want to watch. I had a little free time last night and I sat in bed and scrolled through 80's movies that are free to watch over on VUDU. ..I came across Made in Heaven. I had never seen this movie, or heard of it for that matter so I was very interested in watching it. To be honest I half watched it while I did other things, so it is very possible I have missed some plot point. Also, this will contain spoilers, so if you really need to see it first, head over to VUDU and then come back. That said..the film is pretty predictable, so..I;m not spoiling much.
Now the cover picture shows two babies. There aren't really any babies in the film, I am guessing they were trying to take advantage of the weird baby movie craze of the 80's. Films like Look Who's talking and all of the knock offs. The film is actually about a man, Mike, who dies after doing a good deed and meets a new soul, Annie, who has never been to earth. They have sex and get married..in heaven. In fact she is a new soul (heavenly guide/ angel) because her parents met and had her..in heaven. People come and go in heaven and live many lives so you never know quite when you will be called back to earth. Sure enough she is called to earth to become a human. Mike asks to be able to go to earth to find her and he is given until his 30th birthday to do so.
So what is interesting here is the 80's were all about relationships with angels or people who have died, stories involving heaven and so on. There was Date with an Angel, The Heavenly Kid, Oh God! You Devil (not exactly the same but there is an entire series of these films), Almost an Angel, Defending your Life, Chances Are (which verges on being an incest film) Always, Heaven can Wait, Kiss me Goodbye, Switch, and many more I can't just come up with off the top of my head. I could, and might write up info on all of these films because many (I'm looking at you Chances Are) are really odd. This film is no exception.
I'm not sure why heaven is so interested in these two people getting together. There is no urgency for them to find each other because they don't remember meeting each other in heaven, did I leave that part out. Oh yes, they can't remember each other, so how they would find each other is beyond me. The urgency is all on our side. Do they remember each other from time to time, yes but ..ugh..why? The film is very slow. It gets hard to watch..there is however a nice treat if you stick with it...Tom Petty and Neil Diamond make cameo's! The film opens in the 50's but once they finally get into the 80's the aesthetic is amazing. The clothing the vibe..it's part of the reason to watch an 80's film right.
Once we make our way into the shaking 80's and they have hit the magic age of 30 they run into each other on the street and poof..everything is ok..the film just ends.
What's so odd here is it is pretty obvious this film was just cashing on on the idea. There is very little story to be honest.A guy dies, meets a girl in heaven...has sex with her in heaven (ok..sure) and then has to find her on earth within a specif time frame without knowing he needs to find her in the first part. You can see how this is anticlimactic. So were the 80s obsessed with having sex with angels, reincarnation and the after-life...yes, this is the only reason I can imagine a film where everyone speaks in hushed tones and nothing much happens, got made.
Should you watch this film? It's got an unique 80's vibe in it that I look for in a film, so for me it is a yes even though the film itself is not amazing. It's a film full of nostalgia particularly if you, like me, remember all those weird heaven fantasy films that proliferated the 80s and early 90s. Currently the film is free to watch with ads on VUDU.
