Heaven Can Wait

Beatty's directing debut is a perverse remake of the 1941 Here Comes Mr Jordan, a whimsical tale of a dead boxer returning to earth in another chap's body through a celestial mix-up. What mordant wits like Elaine May (who co-scripted with Beatty) and Buck Henry saw in this is another heavenly mystery: the script provides only the thinnest of lunatic fringes to decorate the soggy comic material. Beatty ambles nicely enough through the hero's part (remodelled as a quarterback), and Charles Grodin turns up trumps playing another of his chinless, spineless wonders. But Christie's comedy gifts are as minuscule as ever, and the film drags its feet uncertainly from beginning to end.