Summaries

A widowed father tries to support his children after he becomes a ghost in an accident.

Elliot Hopper, a widower with three children, is currently working on a deal. His late wife's illness was very expensive and this deal could bring them out of the red. But he gets into a cab that the maniac driver crashes, and the next thing he realizes is that he's floating around and landing in the lab of a scientist who studies the paranormal. He asks the scientist to send him back so he can finish the deal and make sure his children will be taken care of when he's gone for good.[email protected]

Details

Keywords
  • teenage girl
  • father daughter relationship
  • teen angst
  • coma
  • ghost
Genres
  • Comedy
  • Fantasy
  • Family
Release date Jun 28, 1990
Motion Picture Rating (MPA) PG
Countries of origin United States
Language English
Filming locations Boise, Idaho, USA
Production companies Universal Pictures SAH Productions

Box office

Gross US & Canada $24707633
Opening weekend US & Canada $4803480
Gross worldwide $25421633

Tech specs

Runtime 1h 23m
Color Color
Sound mix Stereo
Aspect ratio 1.85 : 1

Synopsis

Elliot Hopper (Bill Cosby) is a recently widowed father of three who has nearly bankrupted the family in attempts to save his lingering wife. Elliot is working on a business deal to get the family out of debt when he climbs into the taxicab of a maniacal Satanist.

In an attempt to end the ensuing mania, Elliot proclaims that he is in fact Satan and orders the driver to stop the cab immediately. Overwrought with the confrontation, the driver releases the steering wheel. The taxi slams into the barrier of a bridge and teeters over a river. As Elliot frantically tries to exit, the vehicle topples into the river, an incident which appears to kill both occupants.

Rather than awakening to a day of reckoning, Elliot finds himself floating around the lab of a scientist studying the paranormal who agrees to "send [him] back".

Elliot, who had neglected to get life insurance before his accident, fears that his children will grow up impoverished without him. As a floating spirit that can only be seen in darkened rooms, Elliot returns to his house and concocts a scheme to somehow finish his business deal and be approved for health coverage before his body is discovered and news of his death is made public. His children are in on the plan and try their best to keep their father's secret.

All Filters