You'll love it... if it's the only movie you've ever seen or you're a female.

Rating: 4/10 (8 September 2005)

What ever happened to Martin Brest? A ring of critical and financial successes -- "Beverly Hills Cop," "Midnight Run," "Scent of a Woman" -- and suddenly... "Meet Joe Black"? "Gigli"? Huh? This three-hour dramatic epic (yawn!) is a remake of an older film, which I hear is much, much better. The updated version stars Brad Pitt as Death. (Apparently Death takes on the form of young 30-somethings with strong abdominal mid-sections and glistening white teeth, despite having a taste for the gruesome. At least he's got a good fashion sense.) The movie starts with Brad Pitt meeting a pretty girl (Claire Forlani) and then being struck by a moving vehicle, which is one of the most unintentionally hilarious scenes in any film - ever. It's so fake and ridiculous; you can't help but laugh as a plush man gets pummeled by oncoming traffic and spins through the air dozens of times.
He dies and Death takes on his physicality, returning to earth to visit a poor old man named Parrish (oh! the symbolism!), played by Anthony Hopkins. Death claims it's time for Mr. Parrish to die. Mr. Parrish disagrees and offers to give Death a tour of the world in return for his soul. (Nevermind that he's in his sixties and has lived a full life and might very well die soon of natural causes anyway.) Death agrees. He meets Mr. Parrish's daughter, who happens to be...you guessed it... Claire Forlani! Oh my! What a coincidence! She falls in love with him, and he falls in love with her. Mr. Parrish disapproves of his daughter dating one of the Satan's spawn, but what the hell? At least he managed to get a few extra years out of his materialistic, financially-obsessive life.
"Meet Joe Black" will instantly remind you of countless other films (unless this is your first movie). I do not hold a grudge against it because it's a "chick flick" - enjoy many so-called "weepy" films, but this just didn't do it for me. I found it pretentious, unnecessarily slow (come on, the story and the characters are not deep enough to warrant three hours) and ultimately very disappointing. Pitt and Hopkins are fine actors and watching them go through the motions in a dull wannabe-epic is quite unsatisfying. Add on top of this that Martin Brest officially sold out his career to the ruthless nature of the Hollywood circuit with this movie, and you can understand my nonexistent feelings for it.