Film

Made in Heaven

Name: Made in Heaven
Genre: Romance, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Released: 1987
Cast: Timothy Hutton, Kelly McGillis, Maureen Stapleton, Ann Wedgeworth, James Gammon

Other titles called Made in Heaven: the 2019 series (Prime Video).

A 1987 romantic fantasy about a dead drifter and a soul-to-be who fall in love in Heaven, then spend three decades chasing each other across Earth in different bodies. It's a bittersweet, deliberately strange meditation on fate and connection, mixing divine bureaucracy with genuine tenderness. For anyone who's wondered if the universe bothers matching people up.

TMDb rating

3.3

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like romantic fantasy that treats heaven as a slightly shabby waiting room and love as a stubborn, improbable habit, with a gentle, wistful comic streak running under the sentiment.

Skip it if you want a tight, plot-driven romance; this one wanders across decades in loosely connected episodes, and its 1980s sheen and earnest tone may feel dated or soft.

What it asks of you: It runs about 103 minutes and moves at an unhurried, drifting pace, asking you to stay with its long stretches of waiting and slow reconnection rather than rewarding quick attention.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Defending Your Life1991

Albert Brooks' afterlife comedy finds similar magic in the administrative side of Heaven, with wit and warmth instead of sentiment. A fresh take on what happens after you die—funny and unexpectedly moving.

But It's philosophically chatty and moves slowly; if you want plot momentum over ideas, you'll fidget. The humour is dry and urbane, not everyone's speed.

Wings of Desire1987

Wim Wenders' angels watching Berlin, drawn to human feeling and longing. Utterly different in tone but shares the same soul-level fascination with why love matters across dimensions, filmed like a poem.

But Very slow, very German, very abstract. No plot to speak of. If you need narrative structure, this will feel like watching clouds for two hours.

Groundhog Day1993

Bill Murray trapped in time learns to love and become better through repetition and fate. Same cosmic-scale romance engine—two people who keep finding each other, bound by something larger than themselves.

But It's a beloved classic; you may have already seen it. Even then, it's fundamentally comedic where Made in Heaven leans melancholy.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Made in Heaven

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Science of Sleep2006

Both use fantasy constraints not as escape but as a language for how desire actually feels—desperate, repetitive, beyond reason.

Michel Gondry's dream-logic romance between a man and a woman separated by his own unconscious. Like Made in Heaven, it's about two people meant for each other trapped by forces bigger than them, told through magical realism and heartbreak rather than supernatural setup.

But Deliberately surreal and formally messy; you have to surrender to dream logic. Some viewers find Gondry's technique precious or self-indulgent rather than moving.

Always1989

Steven Spielberg's ghost romance between a dead pilot and the woman he loved. Earnest, gorgeous, unironic about the afterlife and reuniting across mortality—made the same year, same wavelength.

But Spielberg's sentimentality can feel heavy-handed. The romance isn't earned slowly; it's assumed. Melodrama rather than discovery.

Michael1996

An angel walks the Earth, eating pie and wrecking things. It's funny and weird and tender, with John Travolta finding grace in lowbrow chaos. Shares the joy of divine beings tangling with human mess.

But Aggressively quirky in a 90s way; it can feel dated and slight. The plot mechanics feel arbitrary rather than thematically necessary.

City of Angels1998

An angel gives up immortality for one woman. It's operatic and unashamed about longing. Nicolas Cage as an unworldly being learning to want things captures similar heartache about choosing human love.

But It's schmaltzy and leans into melodrama; Cage's understated performance reads as blank to some viewers. The ending is genuinely sad in a way that doesn't sit well for everyone.

Truly Madly Deeply1991

A ghost returns to the woman he loved. British, funny, real—it's about grief as much as romance, and what it means to let someone go even if they come back. Grounded where Made in Heaven is cosmic.

But It's intimate and small rather than grand. The romance isn't the point; processing loss is. That can feel slow if you want spectacle or clarity.

Splash1984

A mermaid and a man fall in love across difference. Romantic fantasy that doesn't take itself too seriously but means everything it says. Similar tone of bemused fate bringing impossible people together.

But It's lighter and broader than Made in Heaven; the whimsy doesn't have depth. If you want thematic resonance over charm, you'll find it slight.

The Poseidon Adventure1972

A ship full of souls overturned; survivors climb toward light. It's disaster, it's about human connection under pressure, it has genuine emotion underneath the spectacle. Different genre, same spiritual weight.

But It's 1970s disaster cinema—dated in look and pacing. The drama is soap-opera broad. If you need contemporary filmmaking, it will feel like work to watch.

Phantom Thread2017

Both films ask whether people can be fated for each other even when it destroys them, but arrive at completely different answers about whether that's beautiful or terrible.

Paul Thomas Anderson's obsessive, twisted romance between a controlling couturier and his muse. It shares Made in Heaven's fascination with two people locked in eternal return—though here it's psychological rather than cosmic, and far darker.

But It's about power and control; the 'romance' is toxic and suffocating. If you wanted the sweetness of Made in Heaven intact, you will not find it here.

Spring2014

Both films believe in souls recognizing souls across impossible differences, but Spring asks what happens when the difference is real and dangerous rather than just circumstantial.

A man meets a woman while traveling in Italy; she's not entirely human. Quietly eerie love story that's half-romance, half-cosmic horror. It trusts you to feel romance and wrongness at the same time—no genre clarification, just confusion and connection.

But Very low-budget, very slow, very uncommitted to any single tone. It will feel like a student film to some viewers. The body horror elements may disturb rather than move.