Infinity

Rating: 7/10 (15 November 1998)

Imagine infinity, like Brad Pitt asks Anthony Hopkins to do in this film. Now multiply it by the depths of the longest thing you can think of. This gives you an idea of the running time for "Meet Joe Black". There are many good things in this film, including poignant performances by Hopkins, Marcia Gay Harden and Jeffrey Tambor, and suitable ones by Pitt and Claire Forlani, and a few touching scenes. However, what is good about the movie is dragged out over three lugubrious hours, with many scenes that seem to take for-ev-er. Had director Brest not allowed his ego to overrun the project and had he kept the best stuff in while trimming the fat, this could have been an extremely effective 120-minute entertainment. As it is, however, I was afraid someone in the audience would eventually yell at the screen, "DO SOMETHING!", and equally afraid that audience member would be me.