Once upon a Sundance Film Festival, I happened upon one Robert Downey Jr.  This was pre-Iron Man and pre-his comeback.  The crowd was clamoring around him, whispering about his priors and calling out to him.  Struggling to get his attention, I yelled out the first thing that came to my mind.

“I loved you in Heart and Souls!”

He stopped trying to escape the masses, turned to me, and said, “I don’t get that one too often.”

He then proceeded to his Black SUV, but I will always remember that as the time that RDJ and I bonded.

The important thing about that story is that I wasn’t lying when I said that.  It came from the heart.  No matter how big he gets, to me he’ll always be that guy strolling down the streets of San Francisco singing “Walk Like a Man” with his ghost pals.

This movie was my jam when I was a kid.  I got it on DVD for Christmas this year and I was anxious to see if it would hold up, but it delivered in spades.  I have yet to determine whether that is purely based on nostalgic reasons, but whatever, it warmed the cockles of my heart and isn’t that what matters?

The basic plot of Heart of Souls  centers on RDJ’s character, Thomas, who was born near a bus crash and as a result was granted/cursed with the four “guardian angels” of the victims.  With the mounting child psychologists and calls home, the angels decide to watch him in silence.  However, when Thomas is a grown man they are told that they were supposed to be using him as vessle to settle their unfinished business.  They are given a little extra time to do so, but Thomas does not take seeing his former “imaginary friends” very well.  Crazy hijinks and tender moments ensue.

While much of my love for this movie probably stems from those memories of watching this in my family’s basement and dancing along with Thomas and the gang, I still feel like I can say it’s a good movie.  Not a great movie, but a good one.

After that resounding recommendation, have I sold you?  Did anyone connect to this movie on a visceral level as a 7 year old?

–Ellen