For never-watchers of “Desperate Housewives,” you can see one of its stars, Eva Longoria Parker, give the dead a bad name. Here she’s Kate, a loudmouthed bride dispatched on her wedding day. She refuses delivery of an ice sculpture of an angel because it lacks wings. The thing falls off a truck and head butts her. She wakes up in a big white space with no furniture, and starts bitching. “Shut up, you’re dead!” instructs a staff member in the non-denominational in-between world. Debut writer-director Jeff Lowell imposes this unbearable presence on her spouse-to-be and vet Henry (Paul Rudd, “Knocked Up,” “The 40 Year Old Virgin”) and Ashley (Lake Bell), the psychic caterer he’s destined to marry. As an otherworldly spoiler, Kate will wreck their chances for romance, until finally seeing that big white light—thank God!—and moving on. Too bad the film ends there, because Henry and Ashley make an appealing pair with all the right smarts, quirks, sparks and spats for a decent romantic-comedy duo. Getting far too little screen time is a scene-stealing parrot in the last reel I’d enjoy any day over the cawing, pecky Parker. With Jason Biggs, Lindsay Sloane and Stephen Root. 94m. Anamorphic 2.40 widescreen. (Bill Stamets)
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Heart: A Review of Soul The real world is soulful, too, in Pixar's bountiful life of the mind.
Heart of Darkness: A Review of The Batman The three-hour film noir unfolds briskly, an intensive study in the pervasive interplay of power, money and corruption in what seems like perpetual rainy night.
