unacknowledged remake - see the original instead

Rating: 3/10 (11 November 1998)

"Meet Joe Black" is a remake of "Death Takes a Holiday". Brad Pitt is no Frederic March, and nothing else about this movie really measures up to the original. I guess if you haven't seen that one, you'll like this -- but I'd urge you to save your money and get or see the 1934 version instead. It's far more beautifully filmed, and better acted (though Anthony Hopkins gives a good performance in "Meet Joe Black"). Even the tag lines - "Joe's" No One Can Die -- While He Loves! and "Holiday's" No One Can Die -- While He Makes Love! -- are identical, given the shift in meaning for the phrase "make love" in the last 60 years. I don't necessarily hate remakes, but I do hate it when they pretend they aren't ... and this one isn't as good, not nearly as good, as the original.