Can you believe Meg Ryan as a heart surgeon? Can you take Nicholas Cage as an angel? Can you stomach a Hollywood version of WINGS OF DESIRE?

My answer to all three questions: Yup. You bet. Certainly. I did, I will, I’ll probably do it again, and I’m not ashamed to say so. I loved WINGS OF DESIRE, Wim Wenders’s 1987 mostly black-and-white, German-language film about two angels, one of whom falls in love with a trapeze artist and wants to become human. Wenders reportedly gave CITY OF ANGELS his stamp of approval, so that’s nice. But two women walking out of my screening were pretty bummed with what happened.

Here’s what happened: the trapeze artist turned into a heart surgeon named Maggie Rice (Ryan); the action moved from Berlin to Los Angeles; and the angel (Cage) and Maggie meet much, much earlier on, so the film turns into more of a love story than a philosophical journey. This is Hollywood, man, and looks it: the camera swoops around the twilight sky of L.A., following three angels in trenchcoats walking in unison on the roof of a skyscraper; Nicholas Cage is photographed prettily, smooth skin shining; there’s an almost wholly superfluous scene of Meg Ryan, alone in a bathtub, surrounded by candles and cooling her neck with a Rolling Rock. Only in the movies? Maybe. But for me, this sugary version of a meditation on life and death was just what the doctor ordered, and I gobbled it up like so much wedding cake.

CITY OF ANGELS opens on a woman frantically trying to bring down her little girl’s fever. We can hear her inner thoughts as she debates paging the doctor, submerges her child in a cool bathtub, and finally brings her to the hospital emergency room. Throughout, an angel (Cage) looks serenely on, standing in the corner in his dark overcoat and scarf. The little girl can see him, and finally joins him as she dies. Are you God? she asks him. No, he smiles, taking her hand. My name is Seth. He asks her what her favorite thing was about her time on earth. Pajamas, she says resolutely. With feet.

I was a goner.

When Dr. Rice (oh YEAH, Meg Ryan!) loses a patient for no apparent reason, Seth is there, too, to escort the man to the other side. Crushed by her failure in the operating room, Maggie questions the concept of even being a surgeon; she senses that she’s battling Death, and that the battle is fruitless. Seth tries to comfort her, as he and the other angels make a habit of doing for countless others, by laying his ethereal hands on her and generally sending her good vibes. And the romance has begun. Seth soon begins to appear to Maggie, and they have disarmingly frank conversations about things like the existence of God, the taste of pears, and the enduring myth of heaven.

Like WINGS OF DESIRE, CITY OF ANGELS includes a lot of whimsical, lyrical scenes of Seth and his fellow angels--and best angel-friend, Cassiel (a stunning Andre Braugher from "Homicide")--traveling around the city. There’s the famous scene that R.E.M. ripped off for a music video, depicting people caught in traffic as we hear snippets of each one’s thoughts. There are scenes of all the angels, black trenchcoat-clad to a one, perched atop improbable Los Angeles edifices and standing sentinel at their favorite hangout, the library. And of course, there’s the Peter Falk archetype from WINGS OF DESIRE, here in the form of Dennis Franz: a "fallen" angel who has given up eternal life for the chance to become human, to taste and feel things, to live.

Although the ending is a bit drawn out, CITY OF ANGELS moves along rhythmically, thanks in part to second-time director, Brad Silberling (CASPER). The timing works for the humorous moments (Maggie to Seth: "Why do you wear the same clothes all the time? Why won’t you give me your phone number? Are you married? Are you homeless? Are you a drummer?") and for the serious ones (Cassiel and Seth sit on the wing of a grounded plane; there’s a beat; Cassiel puts his hand on Seth’s back to comfort him). It’s helped along by the beautiful, sweeping cinematography of John Seale (THE ENGLISH PATIENT) and the score, composed by another ENGLISH PATIENT alum, Gabriel Yared. I actually believed Meg Ryan as a no-nonsense doctor, and Nicholas Cage turns in an inspired performance as the gentle Seth. Sigh.