Product Details

• Actors: Forest Whitaker, Julia Stiles, Jeremy Renner, Alfred Harmsworth, Peter Coyote
• Directors: Baltasar Kormákur
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Subtitled, Anamorphic, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: First Look Pictures
• DVD Release Date: March 13, 2007
• Run Time: 87 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000KX0HFK
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #70,321 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "A Little Trip to Heaven" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Insurance agent Abe Holt (Forest Whitaker) is investigating the suspicious death of the driver of a burned-out car. Holt has to work out whether the dead man, a conman with a criminal record, could possibly have been the victim of an attempt to swindle the insurance company. When he meets Isolde (Julia Stiles), the dead manís sister, Holt slowly begins to lose his professional distance.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Movie, December 7, 2007

By 

Theresa Daly "tdaly99" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Little Trip to Heaven (DVD)

Unlike some of the other reviewers I thought this was a great movie. The scenery was beautiful, acting excellent and I can't believe the number of people who didn't understand the story. It was fully revealed who the real Calvin was and in the end he tells his sister who actually died in the crash. It was revealed early on that he wasn't really her husband. As as for Frederick, look closely at the gravestone scene and the name on it. The insurance agent may have been protecting the agency's interest in the beginning but how he breaks from that and what he does for Thor is shear martyrdom. I highly recommend it but guess I must warn you to closely watch for all the clues.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Dark Story in a Dark Place Without the Benefit of a Director's Enlightenment, March 25, 2007

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Little Trip to Heaven (DVD)

A LITTLE TRIP TO HEAVEN is a strange little Indie film by Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur, a young director with some very fine ideas but with a script (written both by the director and Edward Martin Weinman) 'that is so spongy that the impact of the film relies on the considerable qualities of the cinematic images. Filmed primarily in Iceland with some scenes in Hastings, Minnesota, the mood is dank and dark and cold - and so is the story.

We first meet insurance investigator ('adjustor') Abe Holt as he listens to his boss Frank (Peter Coyote) explain to a new widow why she will not receive full death benefits because the insurance company took photos of her husband smoking, the apparent cause of his death. Abe just sits in the background but we know he is in tune with the fraudulent activity of the insurance company. Almost immediately he is assigned to a new case: an ex-con with a million dollar life insurance policy has apparently been found dead in a car crash burned beyond recognition. Abe drives to the tiny snowy desolate village where his questions of the townsfolk reveal that the victim was Kelvin Anderson, the brother of Isold (Julia Stiles) who is married to a low life type named Fred (Jeremy Renner), a man who we have seen in flashbacks as the one responsible for arranging the car crash and setting the car on fire. Abe sneaks around the town, spies on Isold, and becomes involved in the investigation in more ways than the honest one. It is the interplay of the three - Abe, Fred, and Isold - that provide the intrigue and mystery of the apparent framed insurance scam.

The screenplay is so full of holes that it is difficult to follow the case's development. The actors are superb artists: Forest Whitaker made this film almost simultaneously with his Oscar winning 'The Last King of Scotland' yet here his character is plagued by an affected accent and by the lack of substance that might make us care about his plight; Julia Stiles does her best with the little she is given to do and Jeremy Renner is convincingly menacing without any factors that make us find him worth caring about. The supporting actors (Joanna Scanlan as a sleazy bartender, Iddo Goldberg and Philip Jackson as the police, Alfred Harmsworth as the 'son' of Isold, and Vladas Bagdonas as the coroner) actually fare better than the leads as far as material available.

The strong aspect of the film is the visual imagery, due to the decisions of picture composition by Kormákur and cinematographer Óttar Guđnason and Mugison's musical is apropos for the mood. But the film remains grounded and a bit on the confusing side because of the director's lack of unity. One wonders why Whitaker, Stiles, and Renner signed on to this little film. Grady Harp, March 07

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Mishmash Of Cultures And Accents Don't Help This Neo-Noir's Mishmash Of A Screenplay, September 25, 2010

By 

K. Harris "Film aficionado" (Albuquerque, NM) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Little Trip to Heaven (DVD)

"A Little Trip To Heaven" has actually been on my "to see" list for a couple of years now. I love noir and this film seemed like something that would be right up my alley. With Forest Whitaker, Julia Stiles, Peter Coyote and the indispensable Jeremy Renner, I expected a heavenly tale of deception and intrigue. But while many of the plot elements were in place to provide an intriguing story, there is an awkwardness to "A Little Trip To Heaven" that derails some of the film's better elements. The initial scenes in which a fatal car accident is staged are crisp and alive--but soon the tension gives way to artifice and unbelievability. I firmly feel that a solidly plotted thriller is somewhere to be found, but it just isn't realized in the final screenplay or in the completed film.

Forest Whitaker plays an insurance investigator sent to evaluate a death claim from the previously mentioned accident. It's out to the country where the lawmen, naturally, are rubes. As any insurance agent is want to do--Whitaker decides to spend an extended amount of time in town, interview and insinuate himself into the lives of all those involved, and solve a little murder or two by traipsing around the desolate landscape as some sort of unquestioned authority. Heck, this is rural America--these country folk don't know any better! Renner, at least, provides appropriate menace as a prime suspect of wrongdoing. But the film steers into seriously unnecessary territory as some sort of romantic bond inexplicably forms between Whitaker and Stiles (who is as unlikable and as culpable as anyone in the film, but the filmmakers want us to view as a sympathetic heroine). It's all very awkward.

Part of the underlying awkwardness of "A Little Trip To Heaven" is that it is clearly set on foreign soil (Iceland to be exact) subbing for rural America. This, in and of itself, might not be a problem--but when you're also loaded up with international actors doing over-the-top American accents, the language in this screenplay tends to become stilted. With stellar talent like Phylidda Law and Anne Reid unconvincing in even bit roles (these great ladies play a school marm and a diner waitress in throw-away scenes), you know you've got a problem. Add Whitaker, doing an accent from who knows where, and the film starts to get pretty messy. Some have indicated that the film is difficult to follow--not so. It's bigger mysteries just tend to push the boundaries of logic and believability. I so wanted this to be a neo-noir treat--but it's a mystifying misfire. Renner is worth that second star, though. KGHarris, 9/10.