Four people die in a bus crash the same night Thomas Reilly (Robert Downey Jr.) is born, and they find themselves inexplicably tied to the kid. Only Thomas can see them, and they can only stray a few feet from his body. Without any explanation as to what they're supposed to do, the four just chill and focus all their attention on the sweet little boy.
That is, until they realize that having four very restless and talkative imaginary friends can lead to some problems:
Everyone thinks that Thomas needs psychiatric help, and so, to give the boy a normal life, the four ghosts make it so that Thomas can no longer hear or see him. The scene where they say goodbye to the boy gets me every time. That kid can cry like nobody's business.
Years and years later, Thomas is all grown up and a bit of a jerk. The bus driver who got the four people killed shows up and tells them it's time to go to the afterlife. Understandably, they wonder why he hasn't shown up before. The bus driver explains that they were supposed to have tied up the loose ends to their previous lives with Thomas's help. Because they didn't do that, the ghosts beg for more time. They are granted it, and now must resolve their mortal grievances as quickly as possible.
Getting Thomas's help is fairly difficult. It takes some extreme persuasion to get him to agree. The ghosts were just told they can take over Thomas's body. Julia went first, now it's Milo's turn:
Thomas reluctantly agrees. The rest of the movie is focused on righting past wrongs, letting go of regret, and not allowing good opportunities to pass you by. I laughed, I cried, I wished I had four good people following me everywhere to sing with me in the bathroom (but then I thought about it more, and I took back that last part).
Music
fun. - All the Pretty Girls
(thanks again, Mark)
genre: cheerful indie pop
ideal for: a montage of friends out on the town
Hellogoodbye - Finding Something to Do
genre: bright, joyful love song
ideal for: scampering through a spring meadow with your soul-mate
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