A breezy, high-concept 70s fantasy-comedy with real charm, especially if you like star-driven studio movies that keep one foot in screwball and the other in sports-movie wish fulfillment. It’s uneven in places, but the premise, performances, and offbeat tonal confidence make it easy to enjoy.
Heaven Can Wait
Where to watch: Buy
Movie · Fantasy · Comedy
Wed · 1h 41m
Director: Buck Henry, Warren Beatty
Starring: Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, James Mason
Overview
Joe Pendleton is a quarterback preparing to lead his team to the superbowl when he is almost killed in an accident. An overanxious angel plucks him to heaven only to discover that he wasn't ready to die, and that his body has been cremated. A new body must be found, and that of a recently-murdered millionaire is chosen. His wife and accountant—the murderers—are confused by this development, as he buys the L.A. Rams in order to once again quarterback them into the Superbowl.
Director
Buck Henry, Warren Beatty
Cast
Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, James Mason
Curator Review
Verdict
A breezy, high-concept 70s fantasy-comedy with real charm, especially if you like star-driven studio movies that keep one foot in screwball and the other in sports-movie wish fulfillment. It’s uneven in places, but the premise, performances, and offbeat tonal confidence make it easy to enjoy.
Best for
fans of 1970s Hollywood comedies
viewers who like fantasy premises played straight
sports-movie audiences looking for a lighter twist
fans of romantic comedies with a satirical edge
people who enjoy charismatic star vehicles
Skip if
you want tight plotting and airtight internal logic
you dislike old-school studio comedy rhythms
you need the sports element to stay central
you prefer faster, broader farce over low-key charm
Overview
Heaven Can Wait is one of those late-70s studio comedies that feels both polished and slightly unhinged. The premise is absurd on its face, but the movie mostly plays it with a calm, confident wink, letting the joke come from how seriously everyone treats the impossible situation.
Worth noting
Warren Beatty leans into the role with a kind of effortless movie-star vanity that works because the character is so earnest. The film’s mix of romance, sports fantasy, and murder intrigue is a little lopsided, but the best stretches have a warm, easygoing rhythm and a genuinely sweet emotional payoff.
Bottom line
It’s not the sharpest comedy of its era, and some of the logic is more decorative than functional, but that’s part of the appeal. This is a glossy, oddball crowd-pleaser that survives on premise, charm, and the pleasure of watching a big studio movie commit to a very strange idea.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Patrick Willems (4★) · 770 likes
Every movie should have a subplot where Charles Grodin keeps trying unsuccessfully to kill the main character
matt lynch (3★) · 511 likes
Warren Beatty's ghost leaves a trail of bodies behind in an attempt to win the Superbowl.
Brianna · 308 likes
why would they let him keep living if he can’t keep his memories tf kind of logic 😭
Megan Bitchell (5★) · 224 likes
this movie is the best himbo resprentation out there
Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine (3.5★) · 176 likes
Anchored by a great premise, the film directed by its star (and, as I recently learned, Shirley MacLaine's brother) Warren Beaty and Buck Henry is a sports movie with some charm and an interesting concept that Hollywood has managed to wring out later on, but which unfortunately attempts to tackle too many ideas and clichés in a somewhat uneven way. When our protagonist dies and we get into the murder plot and so on, the sports part becomes so secondary