the grim reaper comes to earth in the delectable form of brad pitt in martin ( scent of a woman ) brest's $90 million remake of the 1934 romantic comedy death takes a holiday . pitt plays death , who adapts a human form to learn more about what makes us mere mortals tick . he has ostensibly come to claim william parrish ( anthony hopkins ) , a self-made millionaire , but decides to spend a week in his company learning more about the human condition . parrish is the only one aware of pitt's true identity , and he introduces the enigmatic stranger to his family as joe black . it is the week of parrish's 65th birthday , and his oldest daughter allison ( marcia gay harden , from flubber , etc ) is planning a lavish party . parrish also has to deal with a take-over bid from a business rival who wants to strip his global communication company and sell off its assets . he also has to deal with treachery from within his own board . parrish has plenty of time to come to terms with his own mortality and the legacy that he will leave behind . meanwhile , joe falls heavily in love with parrish's beautiful young daughter susan ( claire forlani , sean connery's daughter in the rock , etc ) . as with his character in the recent seven years in tibet , pitt's human incarnation of death undergoes a spiritual transformation , as he comes to learn about love , loss and the pain of being human . inevitably , some hard choices will have to be made , both by joe and parrish . meet joe black explores some wonderful themes and ideas , and the climax delivers a superb emotional payoff . unfortunately , it takes far too long to get there . brest's deliberately languid direction perfectly suits the occasionally sombre tone of the material , but , at nearly three hours long , the pace tends to drag and many in the audience will tire of the film . the 1934 version told much the same story in half the time . with judicious trimming of some unnecessary padding , meet joe black would be tighter and far more enjoyable . however , the film does have its compensations . it looks fabulous , thanks to the opulent production design of dante ferretti , a favourite of scorsese , and the warm cinematography of emmanuel lubezki . there is also the usual strong performance from the dependable hopkins . and pitt and forlani make a handsome , attractive couple - eye candy for the younger generation . the camera loves pitt , and seems to caress his blue eyes , his seductive smile and his air of boyish innocence . if only death always looked this good then we might be more willing to go quietly into that dark night . meeting joe black is not such a bad experience , it just could have been so much more enjoyable and memorable ! 
