Plot
A businessman is reunited with the four lost souls who were his guardian angels during childhood, all with a particular purpose to joining the afterlife.

Release Year: 1993

Rating: 6.6/10 (6,752 voted)

Director: Ron Underwood

Stars: Robert Downey Jr., Charles Grodin, Alfre Woodard

Storyline
In 1959, in San Francisco, the telephone operator Penny Washington leaves her three children to work in her night shift. The shy singer Harrison Winslow is afraid of the stage and quits his audition. The waitress Julia is proposed by her boyfriend and she does not accept; then she regrets and leaves her job to seek him out. The smalltime thief Milo Peck tries to retrieve a collection of stamps that he had stolen from a boy. They embark in a bus and the driver Hal distracts while driving and has a serious accident, and driver and passengers die. Meanwhile, Frank Reilly is driving his pregnant wife Eva Reilly to the hospital. Frank successfully escapes from the bus but Eva is nervous and delivers her baby in the car. The souls of the four passengers become the guardian angels and the invisible friends of the boy Thomas Reilly. Seven years later, Penny, Julia, Harrison and Milo conclude that they are harming the boy and they decide to become invisible also to him...

Writers: Gregory Hansen, Gregory Hansen

Cast:
Robert Downey Jr. - Thomas Reilly
Charles Grodin - Harrison Winslow
Alfre Woodard - Penny Washington
Kyra Sedgwick - Julia
Tom Sizemore - Milo Peck
David Paymer - Hal the Bus Driver
Elisabeth Shue - Anne
Bill Calvert - Frank Reilly
Lisa Lucas - Eva Reilly
Shannon Orrock - Woman at Audition
Michael Zebulon - Singer at Audition
Chasiti Hampton - Shirley Washington - Age 7
Wanya Green - Diane Washington - Age 8
Janet MacLachlan - Agnes Miller
Javar David Levingston - Billy Washington - Age 4

Taglines: The story of four souls who needed a body and one guy who needed some soul.

Release Date: 13 August 1993

Filming Locations: 2810 Pacific Avenue, San Francisco, California, USA

Gross: $16,581,714 (USA)

Runtime: 104 min

Trivia:
Before she dies, Julia is seen waitressing at "The Purple Onion", a real San Francisco club where comedians such as Phyllis Diller and the Smothers Brothers (Dick Smothers and Tom Smothers) performed. When Julia's boyfriend shows up, the comedian on stage is dressed like, and performing one of the monologues of, Bob Newhart, because he is Newhart's son.

Goofs:
Revealing mistakes: When the school-age Thomas goes to the boys room, and comes out of the bathroom stall and goes to wash his hand, he doesn't push on the faucet button to start the water flow, and yet he is "washing" his hands

Quotes:
[to a child he robbed]
Milo Peck: Hey, life's tough. Sometimes you don't get what you want. Mostly you don't get what you want.

Enchanting tale of man "possessed" by friendly spirits

Rating: 10/10

Robert Downey Jr. is wonderful as the man who became the medium for 4 people who died in a bus accident at the same moment the hero was born. As a child these "friends" were known only to him, eventually leading to psychiatric evaluations because parents, teachers et al insisted something had to be wrong with this child. While still a small child, the "spirits" decide it's time for him to be "without his special fiends"...until at about age 30 they suddenly make contact again. They need a favor; 4 favors. Each one of the foursome died before they could take care of some important unfinished business. In order to go to Heaven and rest in peace, their "little friend" would need to allow each of them to enter his body (since they are only souls) to accomplish their missions.

The 4 scenarios are beautiful expressions of love and kindness, and although disrupting the young man's (love) life immensely, in the end he too is richer from the turbulence's. -- This is a wonderful fantasy, a big winner with romantic movie lovers. I have watched this film several times and will enjoy it again and again. The widescreen DVD version is particularly enjoyable. This is a sparkling gem of a movie!

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