Heart & Souls

Robert Downey Jr. gets to exercise those slapstick muscles he pumped up for his Oscar-nominated role as "Chaplin" last year in an old-fashioned, Frank Capra-style fantasy/comedy, "Heart & Souls."

Downey is a self-centered yuppie banker who almost enjoys foreclosing on bankruptcies and, of course, can't commit to the woman he loves (Elisabeth Shue). In general he leads a rich but empty life.

Downey also has four guardian angels who have been with him since birth in a convoluted and funny bit of plotting that is at first slightly confusing, then amusingly clarified.

These four "angels" are innocent people who were killed in a bus crash in the San Francisco in 1959, four disparate characters thrown together simply because they happened to be passengers on the same bus.

Charles Grodin is a mild-mannered bachelor who longs to sing in a professional venue but loses his nerve whenever he goes to an audition. Alfre Woodard is an inner-city single mother, working the night shift to support her three children, whom she adores. Kyra Sedgwick is a young woman who has left her farming community hometown to find herself but now wants to return to the man she loves. And Tom Sizemore is a hoodlum who attempts to right a wrong he has committed but gets waylaid along the way.

When they are killed in the bus crash, these four spirits for some reason become inexplicably linked to a baby born at the same moment (in a car that was involved in the crash). And over the next 30 years, as the child grows up, they are invisible to everyone except this boy — and, in fact, can't leave his side. The boy, of course, grows up to be Downey.

But it isn't until he's an adult that the phantom foursome discovers their purpose and mission, and this leads to a series of comic misadventures as they attempt to resolve the lives they left prematurely more than 30 years earlier.

To achieve their goals, they periodically take over Downey's body, which leads to several very funny scenes. One of these moments, a sequence in a boardroom, is absolutely hilarious, due primarily to Downey's agile comic abilities. (These moments are somewhat reminiscent of Steve Martin's "All of Me" performance.)

The entire ensemble cast is terrific, however, each getting a few moments to shine.

On the downside, the sentiment is laid on rather thickly, complete with a lush music score that signals audience emotions. Director Ron Underwood ("City Slickers") has a wonderful feel for comedy, but he should pull back on the melodrama a bit.

Still, this is a wonderful, old-fashioned fantasy that should be most pleasing to audiences looking for a good date movie . . . or just a good laugh.

"Heart and Souls" is rated PG-13 for profanity, some violence and a few vulgar sexual jokes (though they are fairly restrained).