Meet Joe Black Movie Review

Meet Joe Black (1998)

Rent Meet Joe Black on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Ron Osborn & Jeff Reno and Kevin Wade and Bo Goldman (screenplay), Alberto Casella (play "Death Takes a Holiday," inspiration), Walter Ferris (play adaptation, inspiration), Maxwell Anderson and Gladys Lehman (earlier screenplay, inspiration)
Directed by: Martin Brest
Starring: Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, Claire Forlani, Jake Weber, Marcia Gay Harden, Jeffrey Tambor
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer

Plot
Death, who takes the form of a young man killed in an accident, asks a media mogul to act as his guide to teach him about life on Earth and, in the process, falls in love with the mogul's daughter.

Verdict
I don't know what it is about this movie, but it's so intriguing. A man at the end of life contrasted with Death who wants to sample this world of the living he oversees. In that we get a romance, ill fated it may be, but genuine. Few movies reach such an authentic expression of love. It's also a morality tale, earnestness wins and deceptiveness is punished. In the end Death walks off with a man whose time has come to and end. There's what happens between the lines of this movie, but there's an aspirational element. Nothing is promised. There's wisdom in treating everyday like the first and last. Don't lose the wonder and zest for life and its experiences, and don't take it for granted.
Watch It.

Review
Media mogul Bill Parrish (Anthony Hopkins) plans a merger of his company as his daughter plans his big sixty-fifth birthday bash, but he's hearing a voice, death. He wonders if he's nearing the end and that concern leads to an impassioned speech to his daughter Susan (Claire Forlani). He's concerned her successful boyfriend Drew (Jake Weber) presents an easy arrangement for marriage instead of a passionate one. He just wants to be sure she find someone that is right for her.

Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins play Joe Black, Bill Parrish

After that speech Susan has a moment with a man in a diner. They have a genuine connection, and her father's speech has to be weighing on her mind. What she doesn't see is that man hit by a car as he leaves the diner. That's the body Death (Brad Pitt) takes before he visits Bill. Bill's speech inspired him to finally experience humanity. Death can only explore that through a body, curious about the passion Bill discussed so fervently. Death agrees to delay Bill's death for a 'tour' of being human. Bill's happy to indulge him.

Death is given the name Joe Black. He's awkward, understandable as we assume this is the first time Death has entered the human world. Every physical sensation is new. He's experiencing being human for the first time. It makes him seem ignorant or even stupid, but he doesn't care. He has limited time and lots to explore. He's quite smitten with Susan who is trying to reconcile this person with the one she met at the diner earlier. There's a distinct difference.

Brad Pitt plays Death / Joe Black

This has to be a role reversal for Bill. Death is calling the shots now, despite Bill's long standing position of influence. Everyone around Bill wonders about Joe. This person has instantly become Bill's closet confidant. Drew is openly hostile, but we get the sense he's a bit underhanded. Joe later reveals that Drew cheated on a college test. That has to unnerve Drew that Joe can even know such a thing. Bill's son-in-law Quince (Jeffrey Tambor) like's Joe, but that likely speaks to his character.

Joe falls for Susan. He wants to be with her permanently, and Bill obviously objects. That wasn't the deal. Bill tells Joe that Susan fell in love with the man from the coffee shop. Everything else has been the aftermath of those feelings, but Joe is adamant that he wants and will have Susan. It's such a very human thing, first crush. When he talks to her she references the coffee shop and Joe realizes that Bill is right. Joe is just the shadow. Love isn't about personal desire, it's about the object of affection, about doing for them over yourself. That's Joe's realization. It's a love story, but such an odd basis for one.

Claire Forlani, Brad Pitt play Susan, Joe Black

Joe also manages to save Bill's company while giving him a few more days to say goodbye. Death got the opportunity to learn about life under an honorable and respected man. Bill leaves a life well lived, content. Joe got to experience a glimpse of a life like that, a few moments of being human.

There's what happens in the movie, but there's also an aspirational element to this. Life is finite, will you be ready when it's time? Will you have a life you can leave proud like Bill? With Joe life is also finite. He only gets a few days to experience it, seeing everything for the first time and there is wisdom in that. He doesn't take the grand adventure for granted. Every day could be the last and that's the perspective from which this movie views the world. Live a life you can be proud leaving while making sure to appreciate each experience and day.