THE AISLE SEAT - "MEET JOE BLACK"
by Mike McGranaghan
Meet Joe Black - a loose remake of Death Takes a Holiday - stars Anthony Hopkins as William Parrish, a communications mogul approaching his 65th birthday. As the day draws near, he begins hearing strange voices in his head. His confusion worries his two daughters, Allison (Marcia Gay Harden), who is planning an elaborate party for him, and Susan (Claire Forlani), a doctor to whom he gives romantic advice. Meanwhile, Parrish is in the middle of a sensitive business merger with another corporation. His right-hand man is Drew (Jake Weber), who also happens to be Susan's boyfriend.
One morning, Susan enters a local coffee shop and strikes up a conversation with a young man (Brad Pitt). The conversation soon turns to flirtation, and both realize that under different circumstances, they might have been a match. Later that night, the man shows up at Parrish's house, where the whole family has gathered for dinner. He goes by the name Joe Black, but he is really Death, come to take Parrish to the other side. He does, however, have a deal to make: he will let Parrish live a few extra days if the mogul agrees to show him around for a while. Death, it seems, is very curious about life. An agreement is reached, but having Joe Black as a companion causes a lot of difficulty. Drew and the company's other board members distrust the unknown intruder, and Susan begins to fall in love with him.
As you can tell, there's a lot going on in Meet Joe Black, which accounts for its three-hour running time. There are a couple of subplots I didn't even get to mention. In some ways, the film's length is both an asset and a flaw. I liked how the story took its time in letting the relationships between characters unfold, but there are also a few scenes that could have been cut out or trimmed with no discernible effect.
Despite this, I thought that most of the subplots were interesting, especially the one between Joe Black and Parrish. It begins almost humorously, as Black becomes acquainted with all the luxuries of life - including peanut butter. Then it deepens into philosophical discussions of how one's death should be in relation to one's life. Although there's an underlying sense of dread in the relationship between the two, there is also a strange sweetness. Joe unintentionally reminds Parrish of how wonderful his life has been. For the first time, the dying mogul understands how many special people are in his life.
The romantic attraction between Joe and Susan is also fascinating. There's something magical about the way they open up to one another. Susan has never been totally happy with Drew; she's never felt that sensation her father describes as "lightning striking" until she meets the mysterious Joe. He, on the other hand, gains a sense of what it means to love somebody. His job has always entailed taking people away from their loved ones. In his temporary human form, Joe gets the chance to experience the connection that people can have with one another and truly understand the effect of loss.
Meet Joe Black is in many ways a deep film. It never really moralizes, but you do get to think about what it means to appreciate life. The movie is also rich in the way it handles the characters and themes. The length lets you intimately get to know the people whose story you are watching. This is one of the few films where the characters actually converse. There are no short scenes here; most of them run at least five minutes, filled with dialogue as the characters explore love, life, death and business. Most movies try to do as much as they can in as short a time as possible. This one takes the space to breathe, which ultimately helps to make the grand finale so powerful.
The performances are all terrific. Hopkins is one of my favorite actors, capable of playing decent-but-flawed men as well as anyone else around. I've never really been all that impressed with Brad Pitt. He's always had a blankness to his acting that bothers me. However, it is that very quality that makes him so effective as Joe Black. The guy is, almost literally, a blank slate being filled in by his new experiences. Pitt has never been so impressive on screen, nailing the deadpan humor as well as the more dramatic moments. I also liked Claire Forlani, an English actress best known for her work in Kevin Smith's Mallrats. Her character is a tough one to play because Susan is as conflicted as she is smart. The actress delivers a nice performance that will surely open some doors for her in Hollywood. Credit should also go to Jake Weber who makes the nasty Drew believable without going overboard. He's a 3-dimensional antagonist.
As I said, my sole complaint about Meet Joe Black is that it doesn't quite warrant its length. If a movie is going to run three hours, then absolutely every scene must contribute to the overall effect. Otherwise, the crowd starts shifting in its seat. Director Martin Brest (Scent of a Woman) could easily have dropped a subplot involving a sick Jamaican woman and a few other redundant scenes. I liked Meet Joe Black a lot, but if Brest had tightened it up a little bit more, it would have qualified as one of the year's best.
(
out of four)
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