Heaven Can Wait

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Heaven Can Wait

PG

1978

1h 41m

Comedy

Fantasy

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

84%

Tomatometer

50 Reviews

68%

Popcornmeter

10,000+ Ratings

Joe Pendleton (Warren Beatty), quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams, is killed in an auto accident. In the afterlife, Joe discovers that his guardian angel (Buck Henry) has taken him from his body prematurely, and he is due many more years on earth. Unable to return to his body, Joe assumes the form of greedy multimillionaire industrialist Leo Farnsworth. As Farnsworth, Joe attempts a return to football and falls in love with environmental activist Betty Logan (Julie Christie).

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Critics Consensus

A throwback to the high-gloss screwball comedies of the 1940s, Heaven Can Wait beguiles with seamless production values and great comic relief from Charles Grodin and Dianne Cannon.

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Pauline Kael

The New Yorker

The film has no desire but to please, and that’s its only compulsiveness; it’s so timed and pleated and smoothed that it’s sliding right off the screen.

Sep 18, 2023

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Nicholas Wapshott

The Times (UK)

Beatty can carry off this sort of whimsy by playing it straight and keeping the ludicrous premise credible. But the film is dogged by the nagging vision of what might have been.

Jul 13, 2020

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Judith Martin

Washington Post

This is a very sweet movie to watch, the pleasant cinematic equivalent of light summer reading.

Aug 30, 2016

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Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

Far more detrimental than the general blandness of the body-swapping, career-swapping, and woman-swapping is the humor, which remains pitifully minimal.

Rated: 3/10

Jul 15, 2025

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Danielle Solzman

Solzy at the Movies

Heaven Can Wait holds up as one of the best films of 1978 and remains a timeless classic.

Rated: 5/5

Feb 2, 2024

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Christopher Lloyd

The Film Yap

Warren Beatty starred in, co-directed and co-wrote this fluffy, light-as-air romantic comedy about a football player who comes back from the dead as a sort of a proto-Forrest Gump.

Rated: 3/5

Jun 27, 2022

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Ed .

When Heaven Can Wait came out in the theaters, I couldn't wait to see it, and thought it was very funny. When I viewed it again some years later, I thought it was charming. Watching it again today, I realize how silly this movie is. I'm not an athlete nor an industrialist, but I have at least a basic level of common sense. A quarterback who may never have taken any business classes nor had any related experience still has a sharp sense of thinking, planning and strategizing. I find it hard to believe any QB would act so childish as Warren Beatty's character. What I ignored as an 11 yr old and rationalized as a young adult cannot be swept aside any longer. However, Dyan Cannon is just as fantastic. If you watch this movie, watch it for her scenes.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

08/22/25

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Stephen C

Funny in 1 hour and 41 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/08/25

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Carlos I

Warren Beatty is simply captivating in Heaven Can Wait. His charm, paired with the movie's entertaining (if outlandish) high-concept plot, ensures a genuinely good time. It's a well-executed and memorable remake.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

07/02/25

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Petro B

Didnt quite age well for me. Plot of the lovestory is obvious and filmic sequences are rusty.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

06/05/25

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Lanfranco C

A remake better than the original

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

12/25/24

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Mike M

This is subtly hilarious between Charles Grodin, and the butlers while Beatty, Cannon, Henry and Christie glide effortlessly through the movie. Jack Warden is good also as trainer Max and the staged Super Bowl scene is well done. A remake that is actually better than the original Here Comes Mr Jordan, with James Mason playing the angel...

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

12/06/24

Full Review

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Warren Beatty

Director

Buck Henry

Director

Warren Beatty

Joe Pendleton

Julie Christie

Betty Logan

Jack Warden

Max Corkle

James Mason

Mr. Jordan

Heaven Can Wait: Official Clip - Deja Vu

1:52

Heaven Can Wait: Official Clip - How Heaven Works

1:53

Heaven Can Wait: Official Clip - He's Not There

0:46

Heaven Can Wait: Official Clip - Heaven Can Wait

1:01

Heaven Can Wait: Official Clip - An Airplane Dream

1:53

Heaven Can Wait: Official Clip - Anxious Conspirators

1:07

Heaven Can Wait: Official Clip - I Don't Frighten Anybody

0:38

Heaven Can Wait: Official Clip - Picking a New Body

0:47

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Synopsis

Joe Pendleton (Warren Beatty), quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams, is killed in an auto accident. In the afterlife, Joe discovers that his guardian angel (Buck Henry) has taken him from his body prematurely, and he is due many more years on earth. Unable to return to his body, Joe assumes the form of greedy multimillionaire industrialist Leo Farnsworth. As Farnsworth, Joe attempts a return to football and falls in love with environmental activist Betty Logan (Julie Christie).

Director: Warren Beatty, Buck Henry
Producer: Warren Beatty
Screenwriter: Elaine May, Warren Beatty
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Production Co: Paramount Pictures
Rating: PG
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 28, 1978, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 1, 2017
Runtime: 1h 41m
Sound Mix: Stereo
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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