Over Her Dead Body (2008)

"This madcap paranormal love triangle is charming on its own terms.  Ken Fox, TV Guide
"Longoria makes petulant look adorable, while Bell serves as the glue that holds the oddball pieces together.  Sean O'Connell, Reel.com

Editor's Note Screenwriter Jeff Lowell makes his directorial debut with the slightly unconventional romantic comedy OVER HER DEAD BODY. Overbearing bridezilla Kate (Eva Longoria Parker) is reviewing final details at the reception venue on her wedding day when the unthinkable happens: she's crushed by an ice sculpture of an angel before she makes it to the altar. A year later, her fiancé, Henry (Paul Rudd), is still devastated. To appease his concerned sister, Chloe (Lindsay Sloan), he visits Ashley (Lake Bell), a caterer and sometime psychic, in an attempt to contact Kate in the afterlife and gain some closure. Henry and Ashley hit it off, but misguided spirit Kate hasn't quite made it to heaven yet, and takes to haunting Ashley to protect her ex-fiancé from his potential new love interest. Will this otherworldly interference keep Henry from moving on with Ashley? Or will Kate realize that the best gift she can give Henry is happiness with someone new? Jason Biggs stars as Dan, Ashley's best friend and catering partner, who is a hiding a big secret from her. Rudd is his usual likable self as Henry, a veterinarian who manages to find humor in every situation despite his lingering sadness. Watch for a very amusing scene with his pet parrot. Longoria looks great as a very fashionable ghost, sporting a new hairdo and a new white outfit almost every time she appears on screen. Bell exudes an air of earnestness and optimism as Ashley, who decides that love is worth being haunted by a ghost. Character actor Stephen Root appears as the ice sculptor.

	Eva Longoria Parker
	Jason Biggs
	Lake Bell
	Lindsay Sloane
	Paul Rudd
	Stephen Root
	Wendi McLendon-Covey
	William Morgan Sheppard
	Cory Lorenzen - Production Designer
	David Kitay - Original Music By
	Jeff Lowell - Director
	Jeff Lowell - Writer
	John Bailey - Cinematographer
	Jonathan Shore, et. al. - Producer
	Matt Friedman - Editor
	Nathan Ogilvie - Art Director

USA Today
"Rudd has an easy charm and sharp comic timing....His appealing but slightly off-kilter presence improves this film considerably." 02/01/2008

ReelViews 6 of 10
To fashion an endearing romantic comedy, there are only a few simple rules to be followed: find two likeable leads whose chemistry sizzles, provide them with a simple framework that allows them to gradually fall for each other in such a way that the audience roots for the love affair, and inject elements of wit and intelligence into the screenplay. Over Her Dead Body, the feature debut of director Jeff Lowell (who has the dubious distinction of being the credited writer for John Tucker Must Die), misses every one of those precepts. The result, while not horrifically bad, is as mediocre a motion picture as you're likely to find in a multiplex this season. It's tough to hate the movie because it doesn't generate enough emotion for that kind of passion. It's inept but, in the wake of The Hottie & the Nottie, this year's gold standard for cinematic awfulness, one tends to regard other less-than-successful motion pictures like this one with more kindness...The movie at least ends on the right note, although it's hardly surprising how it gets there. A potentially poignant secondary plot gets a happy ending it doesn't earn, but that's not unusual for a fairy tale that wants to avoid discomfort. Over Her Dead Body is strictly TV fare - the kind of thing you could watch late at night after a long bout of channel surfing and not feel too guilty about it (if you stay awake). - James Berardinelli