one of the most underappreciated movies i have ever seen

Rating: 10/10 (24 September 1999)

It is apparently highly fashionable to bomb on this film. I would simply like to state that if you intend to watch meet joe black with the preconceived notion that it is a "3 hour long, boring and sappy love story", then by all means i suggest not seeing it because you obviously won't like it. Most of this movie's bad reviews are part of the mentality that most have that if a movie comes out of hollywood, it is supposed to appeal to all of the masses.
I found meet joe black an excellent reminder of our mortality as humans, and also a great example of character development. The story moved along as if it were a merchant/ivory film in a few ways in my opinion, and if you don't like those films i suggest passing this one over for something more stimulating like varsity blues or i know what you did last summer.
Although a bit long, i sat through the film and felt that none of the scenes in particular was a "throw away" except maybe the fascination with peanutbutter, which added a quirky little edge to the already dead-serious (no pun intended) joe black. If you are a person that is capable of sitting down and watching a 3 hour movie full of dialog and nothing more, then by all means i highly recommend this film, for i found it to be one of only a few love stories that is capable of pulling out an emotional reaction of the viewer on many different levels, including a fairly true representation of love, fear of mortality and the universal (if not by subconscience) ideal that as humans we simply do not want to die, but leave our mark on society or history before we go. This is a movie that takes all of these things that we believe that make us "human" and presents them to a cold person that knows not of human nature, and sometimes has quite a clear and true perception of life that is unclouded by emotions.
However if you are expecting anything along the lines of Titanic (a much inferior film), than i suggest passing this up. This is not the movie to watch with a closed mind, or simply by someone that cant appreciate similar movies of the genre.