Meet Joe Black
It is Thursday and I am sitting at my desk, partially doing work and partially watching a movie. Today’s choice is Meet Joe Black, a Romantic Drama/Fantasy starring Anthony (Hannibal Lecter) Hopkins and Brad Pitt. It is said this movie was loosely based on a 1930s film, Death Takes a Holiday. In a nutshell the movie is about a very wealthy man facing his own death, (Hopkins) and his daughter (Claire Forlani) falling in love with death. That is death being Brad Pitt. Brad Pitt (Joe Black) is the “spirit/entity” death who takes over the body of a young man who happens to meet the wealthy mans daughter earlier in the day. It is happenstance the two have met but were not intentional deaths part.
I am not going to give away the details of the movie, which I enjoyed, but death comes for the wealth man (Hopkins) and decides to hold off on his reaping for a few days while he follows Hopkins around and interacts with the people in Hopkins life. The wealthy mans birthday is fast approaching and his elder daughter (Marcia Gay Harden) is planning a gala event. Also there are plans in the works of a corporate merger and other business dealings that add to the story. There is about 5 layers in this story that were all handled well and it was fun to watch as “death” experiences the joy of peanut butter and sex for the first time. (I Love Peanut Butter)
All in all, the movie earned about $150 million (Budget $90 million) and was rank on a 3 star average by critics and viewers. I would have given it 3.5-4 stars because I suspend reality immediately when I watch movies (it’s a rule). The movie opened November 13, 1998 at the time I was living in the Portuguese Azores, so I did not see this film in the theater, however if I had, I would have been happy about the investment of $7 + popcorn and a diet coke (maybe some peanut M&Ms). 
The weekend it opened it was #3 behind The Waterboy (Comedy) and I Know What You Did Last Summer (Horror) and was considered a flop in the US market. Because the original film was considered long (181 minutes) a 2 hour version was created for television and airline flights. Of course this angered the director (Martin Brest) and director credit on the edited version went to Hollywood pseudonym Alan Smithee. At the time Siskel and Ebert gave the film 2 thumbs up, Ebert’s review was not as kind. Basically he loved Hopkins and was not impressed with Pitt. Dubiously the film was nominated for a Razzie Award (It lost to The Avengers/Godzilla/Psycho in a three-way tie). However I would recommend this film for dated night or a rainy day at home with the significant other, but I’m a romantic…
It is Thursday and I am sitting at my desk, partially doing work and partially watching a movie. Today’s choice is Meet Joe Black, a Romantic Drama/Fantasy starring Anthony (Hannibal Lecter) Hopkins and Brad Pitt. It is said this movie was loosely based on a 1930s film, Death Takes a Holiday. In a nutshell the movie is about a very wealthy man facing his own death, (Hopkins) and his daughter (Claire Forlani) falling in love with death. That is death being Brad Pitt. Brad Pitt (Joe Black) is the “spirit/entity” death who takes over the body of a young man who happens to meet the wealthy mans daughter earlier in the day. It is happenstance the two have met but were not intentional deaths part.
I am not going to give away the details of the movie, which I enjoyed, but death comes for the wealth man (Hopkins) and decides to hold off on his reaping for a few days while he follows Hopkins around and interacts with the people in Hopkins life. The wealthy mans birthday is fast approaching and his elder daughter (Marcia Gay Harden) is planning a gala event. Also there are plans in the works of a corporate merger and other business dealings that add to the story. There is about 5 layers in this story that were all handled well and it was fun to watch as “death” experiences the joy of peanut butter and sex for the first time. (I Love Peanut Butter)
All in all, the movie earned about $150 million (Budget $90 million) and was rank on a 3 star average by critics and viewers. I would have given it 3.5-4 stars because I suspend reality immediately when I watch movies (it’s a rule). The movie opened November 13, 1998 at the time I was living in the Portuguese Azores, so I did not see this film in the theater, however if I had, I would have been happy about the investment of $7 + popcorn and a diet coke (maybe some peanut M&Ms). 
The weekend it opened it was #3 behind The Waterboy (Comedy) and I Know What You Did Last Summer (Horror) and was considered a flop in the US market. Because the original film was considered long (181 minutes) a 2 hour version was created for television and airline flights. Of course this angered the director (Martin Brest) and director credit on the edited version went to Hollywood pseudonym Alan Smithee. At the time Siskel and Ebert gave the film 2 thumbs up, Ebert’s review was not as kind. Basically he loved Hopkins and was not impressed with Pitt. Dubiously the film was nominated for a Razzie Award (It lost to The Avengers/Godzilla/Psycho in a three-way tie). However I would recommend this film for dated night or a rainy day at home with the significant other, but I’m a romantic…
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