Synopsis
A fateful night in 1959, four people die when the bus they are riding crashes. They continue as ghosts; their souls become eternally entwined to the life of a child born at the moment of their deaths as his guardians. Baby Thomas grows up to be a businessman who has memories of his playmates, but assumes they are products of his youthful imagination. When the ghosts realize they need Thomas' help to move on to the afterlife, they decide to make an appearance once more.
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Cast
- Robert Downey Jr.Thomas Reilly
- Charles GrodinHarrison Winslow
- Alfre WoodardPenny Washington
- Kyra SedgwickJulia
- Tom SizemoreMilo Peck
- David PaymerHal the Bus Driver
- Elisabeth ShueAnne
- Bill CalvertFrank Reilly
- Lisa LucasEva Reilly
- Eric LloydThomas Reilly - Age 7
Recommendations
- 80
Rolling Stone
A potently acted, buoyantly funny film that trades on emotion without making you gag on it. - 75
Entertainment Weekly
Downey’s deftness is so miraculous, in fact, that it’s a shame Heart and Souls never really lets him cut loose. - 70
TV Guide Magazine
The results are mildly comical and occasionally poignant. HEART AND SOULS was Downey's first film after his Oscar-nominated performance in CHAPLIN, but he refrains, thankfully, from pulling a star turn. Instead, HEART AND SOULS remains largely an ensemble effort, with skilled performances by all five of the lead actors. - 67
Austin Chronicle
And even if, at times, it seems terribly episodic as it plunges into each character's separate story and then back and forth between drama and comedy, the performances are constantly fun and fresh. - 60
Empire
Unashamedly sentimental, but all the better for it. - 60
Los Angeles Times
It wins a few, loses a few. It makes us laugh, gets mileage out of the Four Seasons’ “Walk Like a Man.” In the end, the actors save it, especially two of the actors: star Robert Downey Jr., who may have moved into the Robin Williams-Steve Martin-Whoopi Goldberg category, and supporting actor David Paymer, who never hits a false note. - 60
Chicago Reader
There's enough whimsy and Capracorn here to choke a horse, and things get even more complicated when the four dead people enter the body of Downey in turn—to help him help them. Fortunately the talents of the actors—especially Downey and Woodard—sometimes make this effective (i.e., funny or moving) in spite of all the goo. - 50
Washington Post
Director Ron Underwood, who came up with a happy marriage of schmaltz and shtick in "City Slickers," can't quite disguise the mechanical superficiality of the story.
