With Freaky Friday and Mean Girls, Mark Waters quickly made a career out of elevating cutesy teen flicks into smart, crowd-pleasing hits. Now the onetime indie director is moving into more adult fare with a supernatural love story adapted from a best-selling 2000 French novel. ''Most romantic comedies have the lamest obstacles,'' he says. ''It's always 'You lied to me!' That's not an obstacle. A man falling in love with a woman who's stuck between Earth and the afterlife? That's a doozy.''
Especially when the ghost-at-large is a workaholic twenty-something doctor (Reese Witherspoon) unaware that she might be dead. ''Within the first 10 minutes of the movie, she gets into a car wreck — but she doesn't know anything has happened,'' says Witherspoon. ''She goes back to her apartment as if nothing's changed, which makes for a lot of interesting moments.'' Particularly for the bewildered tenant (Mark Ruffalo) currently renting her pad. ''It's a little Odd Couple, a little Ghost,'' says Witherspoon, ''but with a great twist at the end that we can't talk about.''
Well, gosh, at least we can reveal that Napoleon Dynamite's Jon Heder has a supporting role — minus the carrot 'fro — as a wacky psychic hired to help out. ''He's our Whoopi,'' says Witherspoon. ''He pretty much steals the show.'' Sa-weet!
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