Almost good

Rating: Null/10 (15 November 2002)

***Contains some spoilers***
The worst thing about Meet Joe Black is the pacing. It makes Merchant/Ivory look like Michael Bay. Sadly, when you watch it you see how good this could have been were the script better and the movie an hour shorter. As it is, the plot is completely implausible--and not in a whimsical, willing-suspension-of-disbelief kind of way--and pointless. We never know exactly why Death wants to visit, the plot is full of holes, you don't care about any of the characters, and an hour could have been cut from the movie with the elimination of constant "meaningful" glances and silences. It was just barely interesting enough to keep me tuned for three hours.
Brad Pitt is almost good--you can see what he was shooting for in his portrayal (and a round of applause for the valiant attempt at a Jamaican accent.) The astoundingly beautiful Claire Forlani isn't given much to do except be astoundingly beautiful, which she does well enough (and, since I believe she's English, another round of applause for her perfect American accent.) Marcia Gay Harden and particularly Jeffrey Tambor are very good as the unfavored daughter and her well-meaning shlub husband. Anthony Hopkins is also good enough, but an actor of his caliber shouldn't be in a movie this mediocre. Oh well. (It also sounds like he did the voice-overs when Death is whispering to his character; hence the effect is less Prince of Darkness than Hannibal Lecter, Ghost Of Oscars Past.)
Anyway, only rent this if you're extremely bored, suffering from acute insomnia, and are a die-hard Brad Pitt fan. The rest of us wasted three hours of our lives.