User reviews

Don't be fooled by the title. There was nothing heavenly about this film. It's a corny, hokey, clichéd, dull, slow, and an inaccurate melodrama about a young minister, Don Piper (Hayden Christensen) who suffered traumatic injury in a car accident. The paramedics who arrive at the scene cannot find a pulse and leave him unattended awaiting a coroner.

Another minister caught in the resulting traffic jam enters the car and starts praying and singing, at which point he returns to life by joining in the hymn. He has been "dead" for 90 minutes. Now, it has happened that people who are being worked on with a defibrillator, etc., have come back after 90 minutes. But this guy was in a car with plastic over him.

Kate Bosworth plays the minister's wife, Eva, as if she had been heavily sedated. On the other hand, the minister is transferred to a hospital that allows him unlimited access to morphine so he is, in fact, heavily sedated. And about halfway through this 121 minutes of hell, you'll wish you were, too.

Unfortunately, Christensen's character is unlikeable as he slides into self-pity. When fireworks are going on outside, he says in his narration, those are the only fireworks left in our marriage now. He's been flat on his back in intractable pain -- I don't know what he expected.

The character is on an IV for 45 days+. He would have had a PIC line by then. Also, he's given no pain medication while they're trying to stimulate bone growth with a fixator, which is incredibly painful.

One other thing - of course the recovery is very expensive so at one point he is moved to a less expensive hospital. And all the staff becomes black. Low, producers, LOW.

The acting is uniformly bad with the exception of Fred Thompson, who comes off like John Barrymore compared to the rest of them. He offers him a milkshake - McDonald's obviously threw some money at this thing. They're everywhere.

As far as learning anything about the character's NDE, you won't, except for the last minutes of the film. Maybe heaven is worth the wait, but getting to this part of the film is not since you had to go through hell to get there. It's too little, too late.

If you were thinking of going to the movies to see 90 Minutes in Heaven, don't bother. I went tonight - boring. Time it began was 4:00 with the preview trailers, so must have started around 4:15. Began with a short summary of what happened 2 days before his accident took maybe 10-15 minutes. Then the accident and from there it was all in the hospitals with him in surgery or just laying in bed. There was only 1 minute where we saw a brief moment of his thoughts where it appeared to be a vision of heaven with people saying "Good to see you" to him, but there was no mention by him in the movie about having seen heaven at all. Through the whole movie there was a child talking and clanging his toys on the chairs and floor. Parent didn't do anything about it. I finally gave up and went out to see what time it was - it was already 5:30 and nothing to indicate any story of his 90 minutes in heaven. I asked for and received a refund.

I saw it for Hayden Christensen. I discovered a profound beautiful film , religious, no doubt, but more significant for a larger public, for simple - precise- fair translation of a terrible experience, for questions animating part of us, for decent acting and for a story about life purpose , about the others being near us, about good intentions and great battles , about self acceptance and escape from selfishness forms.

So, strange and unfair to be too critic about it.

It offers a story who, at first sight, is too personal for work in other existences. But, this is only at the first sight.

On a bridge, in January 1989, a baptist pastor is victim of a car accident.

Grace to pray of other pastor, and not only, he comes back to life. The steps to a form of cure are painful , not only for him, not only physical. But he is not alone, his beloved family is not alone.

I do not know better manner to say, in a film, this kind of story. So, I see it as a correct film. And this is , for me, the only matter thing.

This is based upon a true story.

Pastor Don Piper (Christensen) is in a terrible car accident. He dies for 90-minutes, goes to Heaven, comes back and has months of endless operations and excruciating pain and doesn't treat family and friends in a good way. His wife, Eva (Bosworth), stands by him regardless.

Okay, okay, we all want to know more about what is in Heaven. Well, to learn more about Heaven you will have to wait for 1-hr and 40 minutes or so before Don reveals his experience.

Yes, this is very slow going, but true believers or wanna-be believers will see this to the end. The acting by all and the pacing is very good. In the meantime we see almost everything Don and his family and friends go through and much of it isn't pretty. Why is Don so angry? Why isn't he more appreciative of what family and friends are going through to help him with their prayers? How can a Pastor behave like this is the question we all ask. Patience as all will be revealed beyond the 1:40 mark. And it probably took a friend and former pastor J.B. Perkins (Fred Thompson) to read the riot act to Don about his behavior.

Dwight Yoakam plays Beau Beaumont, Eva's lawyer, and it's possible this was supposed to be comic relief but perhaps this was the way Beaumont really was. Hard to tell, but he was annoying, not funny.

When Don reveals his experience in Heaven he tells of seeing people of all ages that he knew in life. Contrast this with what Catholics say that all of us will be 33-years of age in Heaven. Something to think about or find others who went to Heaven for a brief time and hear what they have to say regarding the ages of people there. But the true message of this movie is this and only this: Heaven is real.

There is a subtle twist in here regarding Don's telling of the one who prayed for him holding his right hand while in the mashed vehicle. This will give you chills in a good way.

I was struck by the really good photography and by the performances of all. Kate Bosworth was truly invested in her role. Good job.

At the end we see the real Pastor Don Piper who sums up his experience. (7/10)

Violence: Yes, the accident. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: No.

This is not an action Movie, it's more than this, but you have to be willing to catch the message, which is powerful. This is about faith, love and friendship. Is he going to give up, the guy survived the unimaginable, nobody under any "normal" circumstances survives any thing like that, who helped him, 90 minutes gone, declared and confirmed dead by the police and the rescue team, but then one men, a pastor, insisted to pray for "the gone", please don't put this movie in a drawer, there is so much more than entertainment here and worth to think about, the men survived to leave us a testimony, greater than anything, watch carefully

I read the book and it was great and powerful....but the movie was terrible! if I were Mr. Piper I would not have allowed this awful movie to represent my story. The title is about Mr. Piper going to heaven for 90 minutes, but in this movie you get a few minutes of his tale at the end of the movie...and he speaks without any emotion about it at all. Movie lacked credibility and lacked anything to do with Christ...the pastor in the movie seemed cold and without any relationship with Jesus or his family. The book was all about the pastor and how the Lord worked a miracle in his life, but the author of this movie told the story and decided to leave out anything to do with God and the pastor's relationship with Him. God was the reason Mr. Piper is still alive today...but the movie does not want to identify this main truth. Horrible acting and dead movie.

I will never understand what people expect from movies. When this beautiful film is made to touch anyone that has a heart and soul .Just perfect acting .Had me in tears .No I'm not a church goer or a bible basher .Just believe in good and my experience of life tells me that this message is good for us all .Keep the faith as God does indeed answer your prayers .. And watch this film, to the end with an open mind .

I must admit the first time I watched this movie, I did really like it but I watched it again tonight, after 2 years, and I have to say that, this time, I appreciated it very much, It touched me deeply.

I don't believe in god, but do like to watch religious inspiring movies. Never normally disappointed until now.

90 minutes in Heaven. I am 17 minutes before the end, all I have wached is a poor guy, griping anway in his hospital bed, nothing about the possibility of heaven, nothing to giv me hope.

Then he attempts to get out of bed, has one crutch, his left leg has metal rods through it, his right leg he can barely hobble, whicch armpit supports his crutch? You would think his left, the side with the implants and the gammy leg,. No, he uses the crutch under his right armpit, the leg he can support weight.

He falls over. Suprise!

I was invited to see this premiere at The Fox in Atlanta, not sure why I was invited as everyone there was a pastor or a family member...the mayor was there, the whole cast and then there was my sister and I. I gave it a 3 because at least they're donating $ from the film to help orphanages (one in particular was there that night at the Fox)....and after the movie, what did all of these influential preachers and their family members do? Did they stop and befriend these obviously under-dressed orphans after the movie? While the kids were coming down the stairs in jeans and the best clothes they could put together.....did I see any of the obviously well and overdressed attendees actually try and mingle or minister to them.....on the contrary, the mass audience of "Christians" flocked to the open bars inside the fox to get a cocktail, while the orphans and their friends/family/acquaintances awkwardly, and hurriedly left. As for the movie, what I got from it was a guy who was in severe pain and couldn't be helped by modern medicine....this movie shows that you can get comfort from your church community...IF you belong to one. For those of us that don't, I guess we are on our own or have to rely on our own faith.

From a filmmaker point of view, this movie is we'll done cinematography, an overall powerful story, but at times a little slow.

This is a heavy duty tragic story drama that gradually builds, about the experience of a man who is involved in a life threatening auto accident in Texas and his road to recovery.

Anyone who has gone through a life changing experience in which they lost hope and gave up, will find aspects of this movie relatable in a manner those who haven't will not.

It's as much a genuine love story about the love and sacrifice a spouse endures who is genuinely committed to their marriage in a time of great tragedy, as it is a heavy reminder of the fraility of life, that we often take for granted.

For a movie that falls under the Christian and spirituality film genere, it's not the typical preachy film and does not feature the music of any pop religious band. Instead this is a genuine narrative story told as it should be, and an example of how all films of this genre should be written, filmed and produced.

90 Minutes in Heaven falls short of everything. Here are the reason why it makes a terrible movie, not enjoyable for anyone to watch.

1. In the beginning, at the car crash, it stops at a image of the fathers face in a duck face right after he got hit, giving it a un serious tone to the "mature" film.

2. The acting is stupid from every character.

3. Good plot that is wasted by too many depressing shots in the hospital.

4. You can't get depressed about anything in this movie, because it all happens to the characters. There is no character development, they're terrible actors, and the twins and the daughter are so annoying, and give terrible performances!!!

5.The daughter is so spoiled, she made her injured father (who I didn't care about at all so I just went with it) dance with her on his injured leg, after he said no four times!!

Review:

F/ 0%

My Rating is based on the "idea". If I was to give this movie a serious movie quality rating it would be something close to 2 or 3. There are better movies with second tier actors to be seem like "The carpenter's miracle". Even "Heaven is for real" is better than this. I understand that movies abut the same subject might look like church trying to entice some people to come closer to Christian religion. However, I think that each individual experience is different. Some people have been through tremendous pain and suffering not to mention they survived accidents or diseases when people usually don't make it. Internet will show you many more stories of the same nature but they have not yet made it to the big screen. A good one is "Flight to Heaven" about Captain Dale Black. The issue is always to be able to tell a story about real and simple people exactly how it happened. It is very personal but with the right direction and dedicated actors it can be a success.

It's 1989 Texas. Don Piper (Hayden Christensen) is a young Baptist preacher with wife Eva (Kate Bosworth) and three kids. His car is crushed by an on-coming truck. Paramedics can't find a pulse. A passing pastor climbs in to pray over him. He revives and is rescued. He is severely injured and suffers a tough recovery. The limited government compensation is taken by the health insurance. He suffers depression. He eventually reveals that during the ninety minutes of presumed death, he had reached heaven.

This two hour movie has no reason to be more than ninety minutes whether in heaven or not. The plot has no drama. His depressed character is tiresome. There is nothing compelling. I hoped for some heavenly visions but they are short and lackluster. The spread of his story and his fans are infinitely more compelling than this movie.

I have seen suffering like this and have been in the wife's shoes and this is very real. You have to understand the pastor's experience in heaven made his recovery more difficult (that might be a spoiler). His suffering was hard to watch but it was realistic. The spiritual struggle, financial trouble, and family trauma is just how it is. A near death experience, even without seeing heaven, makes you wish you had gone all the way, just to escape the suffering here and the suffering of dying again. It is honest and if you want to be prepared for tragedy here and heaven afterwards, it is worth the slow torture of watching this. It is better than doing yourself. The legal problems were also so true to life. Watch and learn and you might not have to live it. The last half hour is worth and since I see honesty throughout this film, I believe that is also likely the truth.

This movie was, to say the least slow and drawn out. As the story was delivered it should have been about 20 minutes long, but unfortunately dragged out over nearly 2 hours. It was more like 90+ minutes in purgatory.