Lifeless 'Over Her Dead Body' looks like a reheated TV sitcom

A stumbling romantic lark about a bubbly psychic who throws down with the shrill ghost of her boyfriend's former fiancee, "Over Her Dead Body" is a stiff of a supernatural comedy.

Lake Bell is a sunny medium and part-time caterer (or maybe it's the other way around -- her business plan is pretty vague) who gets a visit from a skeptical widower of sorts (Paul Rudd) still grieving over the death of his would-be bride on their wedding day.

That would be "Desperate Housewives" siren Eva Longoria Parker. Given what little we see of her self-involved, high-strung mortal coil, it's a puzzle what our easygoing hero ever saw in this petty siren beyond her runway figure. As a comically vengeful spirit, she's as glibly self-involved as she is woefully unimaginative.

At least Rudd has fun as the amiable veterinarian who tosses off tired (if harmless) wisecracks with a sly smile and a low-key delivery, just as he does in "Knocked Up" and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin." You might say he's on a different plane entirely than top-billed Longoria Parker, whose limited screen time suggests a role whittled down in the editing room. It's certainly more fun to hang with Bell, even as she overworks the goofily adorable side of her free-spirited character.

Writer/director Jeff Lowell is a sitcom veteran and the film shows the same lazy rhythms and tired twists of that TV genre. And while Bell and Rudd have an easy chemistry and co-star Jason Biggs works hard to make something of a role as Bell's catering partner who has no place in the kitchen (explanations -- sort of -- are offered up later), it's as flat as day-old soda, a comedy completely lacking in bubbles or fizz.