# Meet Joe Black (1998)

### reviewed by
Harvey S. Karten

    MEET JOE BLACK

Reviewed by Harvey Karten, Ph.D. Universal Pictures Director: Martin Brest Writer: Ron Osborn, Jeff Reno, Kevin Wade, Bo Goldman Cast: Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, Claire Forlani, Marcia Gay Hardne, Jeffrey Tambor

The only certain things in life are death and taxes. From the way that politicians campaign and from the number of pages the media devote to the issues, you'd think the latter was the more interesting theme. On the other hand, when we consider how the film industry has treated the two givens in life, you'd conclude the opposite. Taxes are a tedious subject for writers of fiction, but death--that's another story. In "Meet Joe Black," a fascinating but schmaltzy take if the influence which death's personification has on one of its well- heeled victims, the big surprise is not how thoughts of impending extinction concentrate the mind. That's obvious. The delicacy of this fascinating, leisurely-told, 174-minute romantic-comedy-drama is the way that Death himself changes from his experience with mere mortals. Played by the deliriously handsome Brad Pitt in the title role, Death is both all-powerful and highly vulnerable; an angel brought to his knees--and more--by the seductive puissance of a rich, successful, professional woman who is herself immeasurably changed by sharing some time with the Omnipotent.

The plot is imaginative and intriguing. After putting in millennia of work taking people to the Other Side, Death feels the need for a vacation on the very planet whose denizens share monumental fear of his might. When a handsome, naive and friendly individual (Brad Pitt) is run over and killed on a city street, he immediately borrows his body and clothing--but not his casual manner--to see what mortal life is all about. Insinuating himself into the daily existence of one of the nation's richest businessmen, William Parrish (Anthony Hopkins), he counsels the man to put his affairs in order because as Parrish celebrates his sixty-fifty birthday, he is going to die. They cut a deal. If Parrish were to act as his tour guide, escorting Joe Black (the name taken by Brad Pitt in the role of Death) around, Black would extend the man's time on earth by days, even weeks. Asserting himself at Parrish's board meetings, he attracts resentment and fascination alike from the people he meets, all wondering who this newcomer is and how he has gained the ear of a hitherto headstrong corporate chairman. While Black enjoys the vacation of his life--digging the benefits of the earth's gifts from peanut butter to the love of Parrish's beautiful daughter Susan (Clair Forlani), we in the audience cannot help meditating on the joys of our own existence, pleasures which make us understandably fearful of losing them at the end of our journey.

While this is not a movie to die for, it is immeasurably better than the year's last bid at leaping from life's quotidian subjects to the transcendent, "What Dreams May Come." Unlike that artistic flop, the dialog here is not dumbed down but frequently witty, romantic, satiric and tender. We feel for Parrish, who is now required to give it all up while at the peak of his career, surrounded by his loving family and ensconced in an estate that would be the envy of Thomas Vinterberg's Helge in "Celebration." At the same time we take heart in the man's acceptance of his premature demise, a titan of industry who, faced with the need to leave the world a better place, reverses a major business decision and refuses to sell out his communications empire to a conglomerate determined to dismember it. Forlani proves a felicitous choice as a doctor about to settle for a marriage to a handsome but greedy man whom she cares for but for whom she does not feel passion, while Jeffrey Tambor is right as the acquisitive man who is neither melodramatically nor obviously evil. Needless to say the giant of the profession, Anthony Hopkins, provides the deepest development of character, a man who counsels his daughter to feel passion but learns the lesson himself only at the end of his life.

The weak link is found in Martin Brest's direction of Brad Pitt, Hollywood's best-looking young actor, who is capable of a seductive performance to match his dashing appearance as he proves in the opening scene. As Death, however, he is appropriately dignified at first but despite his warming up to the joys of mortal being, he remains pasteboard stiff and awkwardly repressed. In one scene with a dying West Indian woman who is in a great deal of pain and asks Death to take her to the Other Side, Pitt becomes positively embarrassing in the patronizing tone he takes to this poor old lady, speaking to her in her own native patois. If you can imagine the epitome of golden-haired WASPishness talking in the lyrical lilt of a Jamaican, you can understand why some in the audience give in to inappropriate laughter.

Life must be lived with fervor, is the implication throughout this epic drama. Live as though this week were you last on earth. Do you really want to sell out your integrity for those extra pieces of silver--to form a romantic bond with a person who does not make your heart skip a single beat or your knees buckle?

Human beings are fascinated by Heaven. What's it like up there? Are some lucky men allotted 70 virgins each for their amusement, as another film, "The Siege," suggests? What is a bit surprising is that people working in that celestial orb are quite curious about Earth as well. In Wim Wenders' 1987 movie "Wings of Desire," angels move invisibly through Berlin, watching the activities of us mortals, comparing notes. Wouldn't you know that one angel, a fellow named Damiel, thinks people are so much more interesting that his own kind that he decides to become human and promptly falls in love with a trapeze artist? In Mitchell Leisen's short 1934 movie "Death Takes a Holiday" starring Fredric March as Prince Sirki and Evelyn Venable as Grazia, Sirki opts for a holiday on our planet to see what makes people tick and falls in love. "Meet Joe Black" is based loosely on that production. The tagline for that feature? "No one can die--while he makes love." For this one? "No one can die--while he loves!"

    Rated R.  Running Time: 174 minutes.  (C) 1998
    Harvey Karten

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