Dead Like Me: Life After Death (2009)

Thanks for the memories!

So much average

Don't listen to the negative reviews

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

George Lass (Ellen Muth) is a grim reaper. She's been dead for 5 years after getting hit by a toilet seat from space. Der Waffle Haus has burnt down. Rube Sofer has moved on. Cameron Kane (Henry Ian Cusick) is the new supervisor. He has a different take on reaping. Daisy (Sarah Wynter), Mason (Callum Blue) and Roxy (Jasmine Guy) start breaking the rules. George has to reap popular school jock Hudson Hart who is secretly dating George's sister Reggie (Britt McKillip) behind his girlfriend Jennifer Hardick (Shenae Grimes)'s back. George's mother Joy (Cynthia Stevenson) has written a book about grief. George takes over at work from vacationing Delores. George is discovered by Reggie.This is a fine visit from the familiar characters despite the missing Mandy Patinkin and Laura Harris. It's really touching to have George and Reggie together. It wraps up the family's story quite nicely. I'm less taken with Cameron Kane. He's not much of a villain and that side of the movie needs to be much funnier. That half isn't much. Sarah Wynter is an inferior Daisy. In the end, it's great to have George back for a bit.

As Rube might say, you don't f*ck with the living. Bryan Fuller et al totally screwed the pooch by making this mess. Dead Like Me (the series) was a living world that grew during the two seasons it was allowed to survive. Despite what creator Bryan Fuller said about quality shortly after leaving the show in a huff with MGM, the characters and story lines managed to capture a unique balance of comedy and meaningful poignancy. The episodes were expertly shot by a great crew in Vancouver and skillfully edited. The actors' performances were always believable and there was a chemistry in the ensemble cast. If there were production troubles behind the cameras, they never showed in the final product, which is all that matters. Yes, it was a shame the series was canceled when it was just getting going, dramatically speaking. Who didn't want to see it come back?But there are so many problems with this effort to kickstart the series, it's no surprise the movie failed to impress any takers. Gone is all the original show's charm. Mandy Patinkin turned it down, ostensibly because he was busy. I can't help but think he saw the script and knew a turd when he smelled one. Recasting the part of Daisy, who was such a dynamic and tragic character originally played wonderfully by Laura Harris, was a disaster. It completely destroyed the suspension of disbelief needed for a film like this. Asking audiences to believe that a beloved character crafted by a particular actor is now someone else, never works unless there's a plausible dramatic explanation (Dr, Who). The actor picked to pretend she was Daisy Adair in the film was just plain bad. Wooden and either overacting or expressionless. In fact, with the exception of Ellen Muth, virtually every performance lacked realism, as if the actors were being fed lines, one at a time and reciting them for the cameras. Even Muth was disappointing. At times, her voice was so deep and gravelly I swear they shot her scenes early in the morning after a night of drinking. It was off putting, and Muth's playfully sincere and vulnerable performances in the series were completely absent from her work in this film. Blue's performance as Mason also lacked any of the soul, humour and bitter sweet regret of his series' effort. But it's possible the actors simply couldn't work with such a poorly crafted story and lines written as if the writers hadn't seen a single episode of the series. Perhaps Fuller decided he was going to finally make the show he said he wanted Desd Like Me to be, before he left early in the first season. He clearly is credited with writing. The writing stinks. What a dog of a script to have on your resume. Also missing from the film, is the entire tone of the series. It's as if the people making it had no idea what they were doing. And that could be because the film was shot in Montreal, which was supposed to be standing in for Seattle. Give me a break. Pacific Northwest? The visuals were abysmal and depressing.. It just didn't "look" like where the original characters lived, died, and reaped. And that's a problem people like Fuller et al, simply failed to consider. It destroyed the continuity and believability to the extent that the script, the actors and their performances had to work hard to drown out the harsh discrepancies. The touchstones of the series had all changed. The cemetery.. George's grave. The Lass house. And on and on. Only a cheap attempt at explaining one profound change was made - Der Waffle Haus conveniently burned down because it would have been too expensive to recreate the set in ruddy, urban Montreal. Not a mountain or a fir tree in sight. I wanted to like the film. Unfortunately it was created by people who had no idea what made the series and its demise so significant. I watched it and found myself feeling sad when it was over, just the way the brilliantly believable characters in the original series felt when they confronted their reality: everything dies. This movie made sure the series would be dead, too

Unlike the other reviews I really liked this film. The series was exceptionally brilliant but ended abruptly with nothing resolved. This film rounded everything off nicely. I get the feeling that some reviewers didn't get the ending. Think about it guys - it was perfect!OK now - watch out for spoilers coming up. I will say this much - I missed the original Daisy, her vulnerability made her character special. Having said that her replacement handled the part well. I also missed Rube - but the whole film was about how they handle his 'moving on' and events leading to the ending as they deal with the annoying Cameron. Everyone else was as before. The whole thing with Reggie is finally sorted and everyone gets a better understanding of what their role in reaping actually is. Now - the ending (stop reading now if you don't want to know). There could be no other ending if you think about it. Georgia takes Rube's place. Perfect. If you truly loved the series - you will not be disappointed. Remember - everything must pass.

Let me begin by saying that I adore the Dead Like Me series. With that being said I feel that this movie was an insult to a wonderful t.v. show. I am not gonna complain about George looking older, Mason being a little chubby, or any of the nit picking gripes most folks have for this movie. What I will complain about is how this film has a totally different feel than what fans of the series had came to love. The dark quirkiness of the series is gone and replaced by slick looking production and crappy camera angles. So now I will get down to business as to what was wrong with the key elements of the film. For starters Joy Lass has somehow went from being super bitch in the series to mother of the year. Happy Time doesn't even look like the same place.(Although I was glad Murry had more screen time) George has somehow been exhumed and laid to rest in another graveyard and gotten a larger headstone. Der Waffle House burns down in the second scene. The comic book crap with the voice overs. The product placement of the stupid phones that everyone got their reaps on. How Hudsons ETD changes and its never explained why. No answer as to how Betty (Rebecca Gayhart) was able to jump over the cliff and into the lights in season one. Every scene with Sarah Wynter and the way she ripped apart Daisy as a washed up, talentless, co-dependant actress and not the sly, cunning woman we had grown to love/hate. They should have just said Daisy had gone to the lights with Rube and this dumb blond chick was someone new. No answers to what became of the relationship between Daisy and Mason. Too Much Roxy.. I felt that Jasmon Guys character was never that necessary in the series and only annoyed me. This movie gives ya lots of her.How so many scenes were spent retelling stuff already known such as how a reaper looks different. It was like watching the pilot episode all over again. The post its falling from the sky in the end had more cheese than Wisconsin. The only thing that I can say was good about the movie was George reveling herself to Reggie. We all wanted this to happen in the series and felt it was only a matter of time before it happened. I really wish that the series had lasted longer than it did. If you look at how the last episode ended with George walking by a sleeping Reggie and Joy at her grave and dropping candy only to have Reggie wake up and see George in the sunrise as George explains in the voice-over what its like to be "Dead Like Me" was a better wrap up for the series (although not intended) than what this movie was.