Surprisingly touching film w/great acting!

Rating: 10/10 (7 April 1999)

Going into the theater to watch this film I was expecting two things. The first was that I'd be there for quite awhile (it's nearly 3 hours long). The second thing I was expecting to see, were two great actors show why they are among the best in Hollywood today (Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins). I firmly believe that Brad Pitt is the best actor in films today (he often gets too little credit for his acting abilities due to his sex appeal and that's unfortunate). As far as the length of the film is concerned.yea, it is long for a non-epic type of film, but I was amazed by how quickly the 178 minutes seem to go by.
One of the best things about MJB is the way the film develops it's characters. Director Martin Brest does something in MJB that too few films do today.he makes you actually care about what happens to the characters you see on the screen. Some people may find many of the early "setup scenes" to be boring and useless. I, on the other hand, feel that those scenes are the one's that really bring us into Joe Black (Pitt) and William Parrish's (Hopkins) world. To end without mentioning Claire Forlani would be a crime. She does a wonderful job as Susan Parrish (Hopkins daughter) and I look forward to seeing her in more films in the very near future.
MJB is an outstanding film that is filled with some amazing dialogue. In addition to that it is: a great romantic film, a surprisingly funny film at times, and most importantly it is the most touching film that I have seen since "Titanic" (I fully admit that I may feel this way due to the fact that I have a daughter to call my own. Having a daughter enables me to relate to the father-daughter scenes, which are incredibly done by Hopkins, Forlani, and Martin Brest). Grade: A