''Hello Again'' is a 1987 American romantic

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed and produced by Frank Perry, written by Susan Isaacs and starring Shelley Long,

Judith Ivey Judith Lee Ivey (born September 4, 1951) is an American actress and theatre director. She twice won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play: for '' Steaming'' (1981) and '' Hurlyburly'' (1984). She also received Best Actress In A P ...

Gabriel Byrne Gabriel James Byrne (born 12 May 1950) is an Irish actor. He has received a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for a Grammy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Tony Awards. Byrne was awarded the Irish Film and Television Academy L ...

Corbin Bernsen Corbin Dean Bernsen (born September 7, 1954) is an American actor and film director. He appeared as divorce attorney Arnold Becker on the NBC drama series ''L.A. Law'',

, Sela Ward,

Austin Pendleton Austin Campbell Pendleton (born March 27, 1940) is an American actor, playwright, theatre director, and instructor. Pendleton is known as a prolific character actor on the stage and screen, whose six-decade career has included roles in films i ...

Carrie Nye Carolyn Nye McGeoy (October 14, 1936 – July 14, 2006), known professionally as Carrie Nye, was an American actress. In her career spanning 32 years, she was nominated for a Tony Award in 1965, a Primetime Emmy Award in 1980, and a Drama Desk ...

, Robert Lewis, Madeleine Potter, Thor Fields and Illeana Douglas.

Plot

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

housewife Lucy Chadman is in the midst of a

tarot Tarot (, first known as ''trionfi (cards), trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a set of playing cards used in tarot games and in fortune-telling or divination. From at least the mid-15th century, the tarot was used to play t ...

card reading by her sister, Zelda. Just as Zelda exclaims something is going to happen, Lucy begins to choke to death on a South Korean chicken ball. The film shows the difficulty of Lucy's loved ones, including Zelda, had in coping with her death. But the grief turns to excitement when Zelda receives a book of spells called ''The Wisdom of Catagonia''. Within the book Zelda finds a spell that requires perfect astrological timing—the moon, the earth, and the dog star must form a perfect

isosceles triangle In geometry, an isosceles triangle () is a triangle that has two Edge (geometry), sides of equal length and two angles of equal measure. Sometimes it is specified as having ''exactly'' two sides of equal length, and sometimes as having ''at le ...

. Zelda performs the spell and Lucy appears. Lucy begins to reacquaint herself with living and with her family who are shocked to see her alive again, one year later, and soon discovers that she cannot simply pick her life back up where she left off. She returns to find her widower husband has sold their home and married her greedy and double-crossing friend from college. Meanwhile, her son has opened his own successful restaurant and married, instead of going to Columbia. When she returns to the hospital in which she died, the emergency room doctor who tried to revive her begins to fall for her. Zelda confides in the doctor that if Lucy does not find love by the next full moon, she will have to go back to the spirit world. He does not believe Zelda. Eventually, the press finds out that Lucy came back from the dead, and plague her, her family, and the hospital the ER doctor works at. Her college friend becomes jealous of her media attention and the attention Lucy is getting from Mr. Chadman. She holds a news conference of her own and tells the media Lucy made the whole thing up—claiming that Lucy used

tetrodotoxin Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a potent neurotoxin. Its name derives from Tetraodontiformes, an Order (biology), order that includes Tetraodontidae, pufferfish, porcupinefish, ocean sunfish, and triggerfish; several of these species carry the toxin. Alt ...

as a means to fake her own death. Lucy does not defend herself, as she sees this as an opportunity to rid herself and her friends of the media. Instead, the doctor gets fired, her sister's occult store is vandalized and she is hated by almost everyone, except her family. She decides to end the debacle once and for all by tricking her college friend into admitting she lied about Lucy faking her death in front of the media at a party the hospital is having. Lucy, the doctor, and her family walk away happily. As the credits roll, we see that both Lucy and Zelda get married and have children with their new loves. Lucy's son also becomes a father.

Cast

* Shelley Long as Lucy Chadman *

as Zelda *

as Kevin Scanlon *

Corbin Bernsen Corbin Dean Bernsen (born September 7, 1954) is an American actor and film director. He appeared as divorce attorney Arnold Becker on the NBC drama series ''L.A. Law'',

as Jason Chadman * Sela Ward as Kim Lacey *

as Junior Lacey *

as Regina Holt * Robert Lewis as Phineas Devereaux * Madeleine Potter as Felicity Glick * Thor Fields as Danny Chadman * Kate McGregor-Stewart as Reporter #1 *

Tony Sirico Genaro Anthony Sirico Jr. (; July 24, 1942 – July 8, 2022) was an American actor. Often cast as a mobster, he portrayed Paulie Gualtieri in ''The Sopranos''. Born in Brooklyn to an Italian-American family, Sirico had a tumultuous early life ...

as tough guy

Reception

''Hello Again'' was released theatrically by Touchstone Pictures on November 6, 1987. The film opened at No. 2 at the box office, earning $5,712,892 at its opening weekend. It ultimately grossed $20,419,446 in its entire run. Audiences surveyed by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data. Background Ed Mintz, who ...

gave the film an average grade of "B−" on a scale of A+ to F.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

gave the film 2 stars out of 4, complaining that it went for "sitcom dialogue" and "funny one-liners," rather than honestly exploring "how people would respond to the reappearance of a dead person."

Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune'' who co-hosted a movie review television series alongside colleague Roger Ebert. Siskel started writing for the '' ...

gave it 1 and a half stars, labeling it a "pathetic comedy" with humor that didn't work at all.

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who was the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in 2000. ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' called it "a high-concept comedy with a terminally low laugh content."

References

External links

* * * {{Frank Perry 1987 films 1980s fantasy comedy films 1987 romantic comedy films 1980s romantic fantasy films American fantasy comedy films American romantic comedy films American romantic fantasy films Films about death Films directed by Frank Perry Films set on Long Island Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City Resurrection in film Touchstone Pictures films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films English-language romantic comedy films English-language romantic fantasy films English-language fantasy comedy films