This is an 80's comedy that was released exactly the same time Back To The Future was released in the summer of 1985. Back to the Future was enormously more successful than Heavenly Kid not for conceptual reasons, but Back to the Future had better supporting cast, better lead characters and was gifted with a better screenplay. In fact you can ask anyone over 40 today about Back to the Future and 9/10 would remember the popularity of Back to the Future while I am certain that 1/10 of them would recall The Heavenly Kid. It was basically a Box Office bomb.

Although Heavenly Kid suffers from corny and cheesy clichés whilst having an inferior cast of actors I cannot help but have a strong sentiment attached to it. It has a very sweet and altruistic message of love and sacrifice while earning salvation through the main character. The theme here is actually more deep and profound than Back to the Future, so I think it's inferior popularity begs the question as to why this is so. Heavenly Kid suffers from a lack elementary directing skills, a satisfying script and perhaps some realistic twists. Technical merit and acting is not top notch here and these few deficiencies contribute to its inferiority compared to its better contemporary. It is important for every serious movie reviewer to analyze movies with similar themes in order to decode what went wrong for the poorer of the two.

The story begins in the early 1960's where a group of youths are meeting near a cliff to watch two adversaries duel in a game of chicken to settle their differences. As we think our hero, Bobby, has won the match he gets his jacket sleeve caught in the gear shifter - (In typical fashion reminiscent of Rebel without a Cause. His car plunges down a cliff where it explodes into his demise. The following scenes are set in a Limbo-esque environment where he is unsure where he is. He meets with Rafferty, perfectly played by Richard Mulligan. Rafferty is sort of his Liaison who will guide him from Limbo to heaven. This is sort of a meet-cute where we have an experienced and crusty old man teaching the young and rebellious kid about how to earn his wings and seek redemption. Richard Mulligan has never been better and he is perfectly comfortable in this role as a no nonsense mentor. He explains to Bobby that his job is to help another person. But Bobby is not very sophisticated or intelligent to understand what this entails. At first this gets over his greasy haired head. Bobby is to help a weak and wimpy teenager named Lenny who gets picked on by a couple of bullies at school. Lenny has that typical aggravating existence of insecurity where he gets little respect and cannot muster enough self-confidence to defend himself. Bobby is the polar opposite of Lenny in Character. He's slimy, confident, tough as nails, stronger than an ox and is as manly as they come. When Bobby observes Lenny and learns that this will be his assignment he is not too keen on the idea, but would rather go through than settle for the alternative. While Lenny is reading a poem near a cliff he unexpectedly loses his balance and the clumsy kid plummets about a 100 feet until this strange guy, Bobby, catches the clumsy Lenny in his arms. Bobby makes a wry comment about how the kid should be careful. As Lenny's limp body is cradled in Bobby's arms he precariously opens his eyes to see what has happened. Befuddled by this stranger's sudden appearance and incredible strength, he regains composure. Bobby plants Lenny back on his feet and walks off as the kid thanks him. Bobby thinks this is the extent of his assignment, but Rafferty doesn't let Bobby earn the prize so easily. His job is to inspire confidence in this insecure and wimpy teenager. You can pretty much guess at this point where the movie is headed. The rest of the film combines a mixture of mildly crude and scatological humor while also being corny. The parents always appear to be your typical parents of 80's movies. The cute girls are always flirtatious and suggest a propensity to sex more than girls in reality are. The Heavenly Kid is actually pretty stupid at times with its silly themes, but the story redeems itself in the final 20 minutes where our lead character chooses to save his friend's life instead of saving his soul - the ultimate expression of loyalty and friendship.

Lenny does become more popular with the girls as a result of changing his dress and attitude, courtesy of Bobby's mentoring. But Lenny only changes his façade. He lacks the toughness and strength to defend himself against physical fights. He relies on Bobby's toughness and fighting strengths to save his life and protect him in fights. Bobby, in essence, acts as his Guardian angel, bodyguard, mentor and fiend.

In the climax, it's Bobby who learns the most about himself and that sometimes being tough and acting cool is not enough in life.

A James Dean wannabe (5 years after his death) tries to pull a "Rebel Without a Cause" and ends up fried punk when he fails to fall out of his vehicle during a game of chicken. The next thing you know, he's on the cleanest subway in the universe and in order to get into heaven must go back to Earth to help an 80's kid learn how to be cool. Jason Gedrick, the alleged geek, is actually pretty cool (just clumsy) without help, just surrounded by a bunch of nasty teenagers. Lewis Smith is the Dean wannabe who becomes an unlikely angel, and if you thought Dudley from "The Bishop's Wife" was unconventional, wait till you see how he deals with the teen brats picking on Gedrick.

There's obviously a reason why Smith was chosen for the job he's assigned to by Richard Mulligan, and that's the presence of his old girlfriend Jane Kaczmarek who happens to be Gedrick's mother. The Dean metaphor is indeed dated for the time period this is set in. Smith would have done better to have been emulating Elvis, and while he's likable, he doesn't really have the teen rebel attitude or look. Tossing bullies into all sorts of sticky foods doesn't really cut it although that's a great giggle factor for junior high senses of humor.

There seem to be dozens of comedies like this, either feature length for the big screen or TV movies and even TV sitcoms, so there's nothing really unique about it but there are some decent special effects and it definitely has a crowd-pleasing subject matter. Of course, people who grew up in the '80s are going to appreciate it all the more with the atmosphere appealing to that nostalgic mood. Mulligan is always fun to see as he is a definite scene stealer, but I wish he was on screen more.

Truly terrible 80s teen flick about a greaser from the 60s (Lewis Smith) dying in a car crash. To get into heaven he has to help this total nerd (Jason Gedrick) in the 80s to become a stud.

The plot is totally predictable, the humor is either childish or PG-13 raunchy and the acting truly sucks. But...this movie was so incredibly bad I couldn't stop watching! Smith's acting is so terrible it's actually fascinating to watch. Gedrick (a very good actor) is totally miscast and the poor guy looks embarrassed for most of the movie. In small roles Jane Kaczmarek and Richard Mulligan shine...but it's not enough to save this.

The script is beyond belief--it has such ridiculous twists and turns that I actually thought they were kidding! Cliches that were being laughed out of theatres in the 1950s are dredged up and presented with straight-faced sincerity. Seriously, did the screenwriters REALLY think this was a clever funny little movie? Did they really think throwing old, hoary cliched situations at the audience was a good idea? SPOILER AHEAD!!!! I almost stopped watching when it was revealed that Gedrick's mother was Smith's lover in the past. Come on! We're really supposed to take that seriously? It's just a prime example of lazy script writing. SPOILER OVER!!!!

Worth seeing as a prime example of how NOT to do a teen comedy. This was a huge bomb in 1985--it's easy to see why. I'd love to know what Gedrick and Smith think of this film now.