richspenc There is one main reason why "Hello again" isn't quite as good as it could be. It's Shelly Long's character herself. Don't get me wrong, I like Shelly Long (even though I keep reading reviews of people who keep saying how they can't stand her). It's more of the type of character the writers made her to be in this film. Shelly Long herself I think is a pleasant, nice looking woman in an innocent kind of way. And I liked her in "Cheers" and as Tom Hank's wife in "The money pit". The issue with her here is that she is very clumsy with two left feet. The writers must have thought that making her that way would be a good joke for the movie. They were wrong. I think it a distraction. The idea itself of bringing back someone from the dead is an interesting enough topic for me without the distraction of making her a klutz. Lucy's (Shelly's) spiritual sister, Zelda who runs her own supernateraul shop is the one who performs a spell to bring her back. Zelda is a neat, quirky character in this film and I liked her. Anyway, when Lucy returns, she has to, of course go through the whole ordeal of immensely surprising everyone in her life from before her death that she has returned, and dealing with their understandably intense reactions with such a thing occurring. After all, this sort of thing just doesn't happen every day. She finds out how her husband Richard has now hooked up now Kim, a beautiful flashy woman who Lucy was friends with before but now, after the whole ordeal, the two women don't like each other so much anymore. After all, Kim is now obviously scared that Lucy will go back to Richard since before her death, they never officially divorced. And Lucy, understandable, is not comfortable with seeing Kim romantically hooked up with her husband. Lucy also meets a doctor, Peter while going to the hospital to find out how she died. Peter obviously thinks she's crazy at first ("if you don't take a walk, I'm gonna call security"), but after convincing from Lucy saying things only the "real" Lucy wouldve known, and Peter conducting a series of tests, he's astounded to find out that this woman who died one year earlier, is really the same woman come back. And Lucy dying from choking on a South Korean chicken ball is a good touch. Lucy also made a pretty funny joke about the chicken ball before she choked, "boy, I'd like to see the rest of the chicken". The rest of the movie I won't spoil by writing here. I'll just say that there are definitely some good bits but also a few dumb bits. The dumb bits are mostly from what I mentioned before about Lucy's clumsiness. The hospital executive was also sort of an offbeat character, this weird looking and talking short bald man. However, this is a nice, interesting, quirky little picture to enjoy on a Saturday night while eating pizza.

wes-connors Accident-prone Long Island housewife Shelley Long (as Lucy) chokes to death on a South Korean chicken-ball, then comes back to life after a spell cast by her kooky sister Judith Ivey (as Zelda). To avoid being sent back to her grave, Ms. Long must find true love with either her doctor Gabriel Byrne (as Kevin Scanlon) or widowed husband Corbin Bernsen (as Jason Chadman). "Hello Again" appears to be an update of "My Favorite Wife (1940) and "Move Over, Darling" (1963). For added fun, Long's "Lucy" is given some physical comedy which recalls the famous comedienne. Lucille Ball lost her dress in "Yours, Mine and Ours" (1968) and had several eating mishaps like those herein, but she wasn't clumsy. Long and director Frank Perry can't quite get the staging and situation to make for maximum laughter.**** Hello Again (11/6/87) Frank Perry ~ Shelley Long, Judith Ivey, Gabriel Byrne, Corbin Bernsen

bpercival Shelly Long has proved herself to be very versatile in comedy. While this is not a complicated movie -- nor one of the best acted, it is one of the best acted that Shelly Long has done. The story is simple, but one that I'm sure most people have dreamed about. "What would happen to my family if I no longer 'existed'." A perfect world is not available in life -- or death, but on the screen it works. Even though it won no awards for acting, I find that it is one of the most entertaining movies I have seen -- one that needs to be added to a personal library, along with one of Shelly Long's funniest movies to be seen: Troop Beverly Hills.

moonspinner55 Director Frank Perry, who in the early 1970s showed some honest talent and an abundance of visual wit, channels the same cartoony approach to 'life' here as he did with his "Compromising Positions"...and the affects are equally as meager. Shelley Long dies but comes back, however there's nothing relatably human about Long's approach to acting. Yes, she's playing a klutzy ditz with a heart of gold, but Long has no shadings, and when she tries for sincerity it rings hollow (even her overly-clear speaking voice sounds as if it's coming from an echo chamber and not a person). I liked Long in the underrated "Irreconcilable Differences", where she really had a chance to carve out a character beyond her snippy "Cheers" persona. It's not that she's a bad actress, there just doesn't seem to be a soul in that body. Pert and perky, she's utterly one-dimensional, pink-and-blonde-and-bland. Who cares if she returns from the dead? *1/2 from ****