Amazon.com Essentials:
Meet Joe Black seemed almost fated to fail when it was released
in 1998, but this romantic fantasy--a remake of 1934's Death Takes a
Holiday--deserves a chance at life after box-office death. Although
many moviegoers were turned off by director Martin Brest's
overindulgent three-hour running time, those who gear into its
deliberate pace will find that Meet Joe Black offers ample reward
for your attention.
Brad Pitt plays Death with a capital D, enjoying some time on Earth by
inhabiting the body of a young man who'd been killed in a
shockingly sudden pedestrian-auto impact. Before long, Death has
ingratiated himself with a wealthy industrialist (Anthony Hopkins) and
pursues romance with the man's beautiful daughter (newcomer Claire
Forlani), whom he'd briefly encountered while still an earthbound human.
Under the assumed identity of "Joe Black," he samples all the pleasures
that corporeal life has to offer--power, romance, sex, and such
enticing pleasures as peanut butter by the spoonful.
But Death has a job to do, and Meet Joe Black addresses the
heart-wrenching dilemma that arises when either father or daughter (the
plot keeps us guessing) must confront his or her inevitable demise. The film
takes its own sweet time to establish this emotional crisis and the
love that binds Hopkins's semidysfunctional family so closely together.
But if you've stuck with the story this far, you may find yourself
surprisingly affected. And if Meet Joe Black has really won you
over, you'll more than appreciate the care and affection that gives the
film a depth and richness that so many critics chose to ignore.
--Jeff Shannon
