"Meet Joe Black" is a very, very good and touching film " A rare blend of emotion and intelligence" is what Roger Ebert said of the film when it came out in 1998 on Siskel & Ebert. Gene Siskel liked the film's theme of "love intensely and take your life seriously." They both said that they were touched by the film.
The cast was terrific in their portrayals. You can't say anything wrong about how Anthony Hopkins (William Parish) acted in this film, he was phenomenal in how he portrayed an actual decent guy. The attractive Claire Forlani as Susan Parish was believable, in her role as someone who is obviously searching for love but doesn't know if she has truly found it. Brad Pitt portrays two different characters in the film, first the guy that Susan meets at the cafe and then as "Joe Black." He portrays "Death" subtly as an observer with calm and coolness about him but how is death suppose to be portrayed anyway, with a black robe and sickle? After you watch this film and "Legend of the Fall" (another Hopkins and Pitt collaboration) you will see how underrated of an actor Pitt is. The rest of the cast were great as well: Jeffrey Tambor (Quince) and Jake Weber as Drew, the perfect ahole! This is one of those films that touches you on a certain level where you know what it is trying to convey to you and the rest of its viewers and if you can't pinpoint what that is consciously you know it subconsciously because you think to yourself that there is something about this film that I like or that gets to me but I don't know what that is.
This is definitely NOT a "CHICK FLICK"!!! if you didn't see "Meet Joe Black" during its theatrical release I would recommend renting or buying the DVD and seeing it in its entirety, uncut without the 20 million commercials, which probably ways heavily on the negativity that some may feel toward this production.
Is the film a little too long, yes three hours, but as the shortened, cut, pan and scanned versions of this film have been shown on television this may have caused confusion about the storyline or the subtleties of some of the characters such as Susan or Joe. What this means is that you need the three hours to tell the story without fault.
You have to watch Joe Black with a clean slate and not think of it as a "chick flick" because that will poison your mind about this truly wonderful film.
The cast was terrific in their portrayals. You can't say anything wrong about how Anthony Hopkins (William Parish) acted in this film, he was phenomenal in how he portrayed an actual decent guy. The attractive Claire Forlani as Susan Parish was believable, in her role as someone who is obviously searching for love but doesn't know if she has truly found it. Brad Pitt portrays two different characters in the film, first the guy that Susan meets at the cafe and then as "Joe Black." He portrays "Death" subtly as an observer with calm and coolness about him but how is death suppose to be portrayed anyway, with a black robe and sickle? After you watch this film and "Legend of the Fall" (another Hopkins and Pitt collaboration) you will see how underrated of an actor Pitt is. The rest of the cast were great as well: Jeffrey Tambor (Quince) and Jake Weber as Drew, the perfect ahole! This is one of those films that touches you on a certain level where you know what it is trying to convey to you and the rest of its viewers and if you can't pinpoint what that is consciously you know it subconsciously because you think to yourself that there is something about this film that I like or that gets to me but I don't know what that is.
This is definitely NOT a "CHICK FLICK"!!! if you didn't see "Meet Joe Black" during its theatrical release I would recommend renting or buying the DVD and seeing it in its entirety, uncut without the 20 million commercials, which probably ways heavily on the negativity that some may feel toward this production.
Is the film a little too long, yes three hours, but as the shortened, cut, pan and scanned versions of this film have been shown on television this may have caused confusion about the storyline or the subtleties of some of the characters such as Susan or Joe. What this means is that you need the three hours to tell the story without fault.
You have to watch Joe Black with a clean slate and not think of it as a "chick flick" because that will poison your mind about this truly wonderful film.