Meet Joe Black

1998 "Sooner or later everyone does."
7.2| 2h58m| PG-13| en| More Info
Released: 12 November 1998 Released
Producted By: Universal Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: https://www.uphe.com/movies/meet-joe-black
Synopsis

When the grim reaper comes to collect the soul of megamogul Bill Parrish, he arrives with a proposition: Host him for a "vacation" among the living in trade for a few more days of existence. Parrish agrees, and using the pseudonym Joe Black, Death begins taking part in Parrish's daily agenda and falls in love with the man's daughter. Yet when Black's holiday is over, so is Parrish's life.

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Reviews

Diagonaldi Very well executed
VividSimon Simply Perfect
Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.
Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
Ian (Flash Review)Imagine if death introduced itself to you in human form and hung around until he was ready to do his thing and while hanging around he dated your daughter. Yikes you may say! This is the surface plot to this movie and is played out tactfully over three hours. I suppose the underlying crux to the movie is about not taking life for granted and enjoying the little things in life. While death is in human form, he finds the most unusual and simple things novel and pleasurable. Pitt plays death very well. His 'human' character bookends his death character and plays them both distinctively and with fun charms. While being three hours long the dialog is interesting enough not to bore yet is certainly doesn't feel short. Clever story to wrap around a romantic tale.
Anssi Vartiainen In Meet Joe Black Brad Pitt plays Death who has decided, after eons of existing, to experience the human existence through an unhappy car crash victim. As his guide he chooses a filthy rich media mogul played by Anthony Hopkins. Because that's a fine sample of humanity right there. But, it just so happens that the mogul has a feisty daughter played by the lovely Claire Forlani. Hijinks do indeed ensue.This film has problems. The actors themselves are fine, yes. The technical aspects are fine, yes. Even the story is not half bad and would normally allow for an hour or two of lighthearted entertainment. Once again it's the execution that trumps all that.Because this film is ghastly boring, unimaginative, unbearable to watch and just an all-around mess. And almost all of that stems from the fact that it's Three! Hours! Long! At most it should be two, and even that would be tedious with the amount of story on display here. I mean, a firework is fun right? The shooting, the buildup of the climb and then the main thing, the explosion. Imagine all that taking ten minutes instead of seconds. That's how this movie felt to me. And why is it so long? Because apparently the director doesn't know the word "cut", leading most scenes to go on a minute or two too long. Including fifteen minutes dedicated to peanut butter and a sex scene that has us staring at Brad Pitt's bulging eyes for another fifteen minutes. Oh I'm sure the scene lasted for a couple of minutes at best, but it sure felt like an eternity.It also doesn't help that the film is positively diabetic. Especially the ending, which tries so hard to be emotional and heartfelt that I feel sorry for it. Because it isn't. It's manipulative, forced and banal. I'm sorry, ending, that's the truth.Meet Joe Black has its fans and in some sick manner I can even see why. Its actors are capable, the story has that sugary quality to it that appeals to some and it is professionally made, aside from the length of it. Personally I died a little watching it. As in I'm three hours closer to death and I have nothing to show for it.
TheUniquePerception The beauty of truly creative story telling is discovered as it enters your mind - hours, days and years after we experience the art. The power of love is a subject that limits the reach of many films. Meet Joe Black offers the well crafted cover of business, power and the supernatural. The story line seems rather simple until the twist comes and it gets a little challenging for a lot of us to handle. The good news is that while we are trying to come to grips with the surface story, the creators sneak in a second slow moving tale of the limitless power of true love. They address a father's love, a daughter's love, the love between a man and a woman and most importantly the film makers get into superficial convenient love. Power over others can cause us to be selfish. This story highlights the brightest version of power and love. We are able to do what is best for another even when that is not aligned with our own desires. Reaching this level takes care and practice. Real love is greater than our needs. Meet Joe Black does a wonderful job of sneaking this life lesson in on us.
Filipe Neto In this film, Death takes the body of a person to be able to approach William Parrish, a media mogul to whom she asks for information about human life. Speaking in these terms, it looks like an old tale brought to this day. However, although the idea is good and the film has truly beautiful moments, its far from perfect. The film is quite elegant and has a beautiful cinematography, full of warm colors and little contrast, as if everything developed in a late afternoon or next to a fireplace. The actors are veterans that we like to see working, the environments, sets and costumes are exquisite... its good, the film has quality! Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins make a good pair when they split the screen, being able to get the best of each other, as well as being both icons of male charm, each on its own way. Claire Forlani also made a good, very restrained but strong performance, although the romance with Pitt's character is as cold and impersonal as his character. I said the movie was not perfect, remember? Beginning with the actors, Pitt made several mistakes and did certain things he shouldn't. His character is always lacking in human warmth and, if Death really wanted to learn more about humanity, this was something that should have gradually emerged in this character, especially when he falls in love. Love is the most intense and transformative human feeling and this is never suggested to us... I don't know if Pitt accepts without criticism everything directors and writers say he has to do, but it's his duty not to let his character fall, so he should have had the perception of the mistake that would be to keep such coldness from a certain point. But there are more problems: the script has an excellent main plot but is too dense and there are too many subplots, and that only helps to get the film out of focus. The director, Martin Brest, did a good job filming but clearly didn't give great relevance to pre and post production. He should have scrutinized the script better, eliminating some things, as well as requiring the editing team to cut out what was left over. And there's plenty of leftovers in a super slow movie, which drags on for three hours without any need, with overly long or ancillary scenes. It's a beautiful movie, but it's tedious to watch because we just lost the patience needed to watch something so long and so empty.