Paul J. Nemecek In the recent thriller The Edge, Anthony Hopkins played a wealthy businessman who is transformed by a harrowing encounter with death. In Meet Joe Black, Anthony Hopkins plays Bill, a similar character confronting similar themes, but with a very different twist. Here he meets Death as played by Brad Pitt. Death informs Bill that he wants to see what life is like and he wants Bill to teach him. So long as Death is interested and learning, Bill gets more time. When Bill has to introduce Death to his family at dinner, he fumbles around for a name, eventually coming up with Joe Black.This is hardly the first film to depict bargains with Death. In Ingmar Bergman's Seventh Seal the allegorical figure of death (complete with shroud) is challenged to a game of chess. His intended victim hopes to forestall the inevitable. Bergman's Death character is reprised in Woody Allen's Love and Death, The Last Action Hero, and Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. In Meet Joe Black we are spared the shroud since Death decided to borrow a body from one of his victims. (If you gotta' have one, might as well borrow one that looks like Brad Pitt, I guess.)The real twist in this film comes in what could be taken as the sub-plot. Death falls in love with Bill's daughter Susan. Susan is involved with Drew, her father's right-hand man in the business world. Drew meanwhile is conniving at some underhanded business deals of his own. The plot takes more than a few twists and turns along the way, but in the end it is neither the plot nor the grand theme (if there is one) that makes the film engaging. Sometimes its the ride itself that makes the journey worthwhile.Frankly, there are more than a few problems of plausibility here (even after we grant willing suspension of disbelief to the central premise). As one small example, Joe Black is fluent in Jamaican patois, but doesn't know how to tie a tie. The cinematography is good, but not outstanding, and the performances are no more that what we would expect under the circumstances.Still in all, there were more than a few moments along the way where the audience laughed pretty hard. At one point the audience applauded (in the middle of the movie no less), and I'm sure there were more than a few smiles on more than a few occasions. By the end of the film, director Martin Brest (Scent of a Woman) has given us quite a few simple pleasures along the way. If there is a grand theme to the film, perhaps that is it . . . . it's the simple pleasures that make life good, and in the end, caring is everything.

Leon Smoothy A ridiculous movie in all aspects. If this movie should have worked, it would probably needed someone like Kurosawa to pull it off. A more dreamlike, bizarre setting. The Angel of Death, taking people's lives personally, doubting his own role and falling in love with a beautiful woman? Has he not seen beautiful women yet? A ridiculous question, about a scaring subject matter. This movie had to have been more dreamlike, absurd, to work at any level. Then it could have been a serious tale about loss and loss of life... But it becomes like a bad comedy instead. Do not waste your time on this.

secowski Fantasy, mystery, drama, romance and even comedy... They all were melted in the crucible in an excellent way. I felt all of them throughout the movie, I began to grieve while laughing, I thought about fantastic issues while getting carried away with romance, etc. The last time I saw a movie like this is a long time ago... It was The Bucket List (2007) and put a smile on my face. Meet Joe Black is well-formed with acting, editing, and dialogues. It does not bother you even though it lasts 3 hours nearly, someone might not realize how the time passes. I could wish more than it as for me.Another feeling I had towards the end of the movie is that it would be half black and half blue if the movie were a color.

TheUniquePerception The beauty of truly creative story telling is discovered as it enters your mind - hours, days and years after we experience the art. The power of love is a subject that limits the reach of many films. Meet Joe Black offers the well crafted cover of business, power and the supernatural. The story line seems rather simple until the twist comes and it gets a little challenging for a lot of us to handle. The good news is that while we are trying to come to grips with the surface story, the creators sneak in a second slow moving tale of the limitless power of true love. They address a father's love, a daughter's love, the love between a man and a woman and most importantly the film makers get into superficial convenient love. Power over others can cause us to be selfish. This story highlights the brightest version of power and love. We are able to do what is best for another even when that is not aligned with our own desires. Reaching this level takes care and practice. Real love is greater than our needs. Meet Joe Black does a wonderful job of sneaking this life lesson in on us.