Meet Joe Black

Meet Joe Black

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Category: DVD
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DVD Cover Information

• Condition: New
• Format: DVD
• Widescreen; Closed-captioned; Color; Dolby

Movie Reviews of Meet Joe Black

Movie Review: Pure entertainment from beginning to end.
Summary: 5 Stars

The film doesn't rely on gimmicks like car chases and bombs going off. So don't sit back and wait to be wowed by special effects. To fully appreciate this movie you need to pay attention to what's being said. The reward is well worth the effort and you'll enjoy the acting and dialog.

The movie does have some spectacular views of Manhatten, the penthouse and lavish swimming pool, and the country estate approached by helicoptor. The DVD quality is technically excellent -- audio and visuals. It also contains extras including film history for each of the main actors and interesting commentary by actors and the director.

I've seen the movie ("Death Takes a Holiday") that MJB ws based on. I prefer MJB because it portrays life in the 90's -- it's easier to relate to. Even though it deals with the New York elite, it presents issues that are common to most people.

Claire Forlani is wonderful to watch. She portrays an intelligent, sensitive and fun character. Hopkins performance is amazing as always. My favorite scene is when he describes what his wife was like. It's so real as he wipes away the tears. A very touching scene.

The most impressive acting is by Brad Pitt. He has such diversity and range. His gestures, facial expressions, tone of voice are always in command. He plays someone confident, powerful, and in complete control. Yet he has a schoolboy quality when interacting with Susan. He seems vulnerable, clueless, naive, easily embarrased, and shy. The combination of qualities that Susan (Claire Forlani) finds so seductive and charming, yet mysterious. The attraction between these two is so intense. It's wonderful to watch them fall in love.

The interaction between Pitt and Hopkins is also fascinating. At first Joe (Pitt) is very stern explaining that "nothing is negotiable". As time goes on the tension builds between the two and finally mild mannered Joe has had enough -- telling Hopkins "how it is going to be" in a polite but forceful way. The vocal range goes from soft-spoken to fully raised voice and back again.

There is quite a bit of humor sprinkled throughout the movie to keep it light. I missed some of it the first time I saw the movie. While watching it later, I found some parts hilarious - especially the peanut butter scene in the kitchen and by the pool. What a ham (Pitt). He certainly plays up the boyish charm. He takes everything people say literally. In a way it pokes fun at familiar sayings. Some of Pitts behavior reminds me of Stanley Laurel (Laurel & Hardy). Maybe it's the slight English manner. I also cracked up when Pitt started speaking in Jamaican dialect.

It was interesting how mood was set using lighting (or makeup). When Hopkins first meets Joe, he has a very cold look with dark eyes and a stare that never blinks. Throughout the movie, Joe is a pleasant soft spoken character who smiles constantly - someone you would not normally associate with death. Later on, Susan looks at Joe and realizes that he's not there. His makeup is dull (or grey) - he looks ill. It's subtle but very eiry to see the transition.

Then there's the music. What a fantastic score and such variety! The movie is full of background music to set the mood. It's great to listen to -- even as the credits roll there's a really upbeat number playing. The movie is great from beginning to end.

Summary of Meet Joe Black

Brad Pitt plays Death with a capital D, enjoying some time on Earth by inhabiting the body of a young man who'd been killed in a shockingly sudden pedestrian-auto impact. Before long, Death has ingratiated himself with a wealthy industrialist (Anthony Hopkins) and pursues romance with the man's beautiful daughter (newcomer Claire Forlani), whom he'd briefly encountered while still an earthbound human. Under the assumed identity of "Joe Black," he samples all the pleasures that corporeal life has to offer--power, romance, sex, and such enticing pleasures as peanut butter by the spoonful.

But Death has a job to do, and Meet Joe Black addresses the heart-wrenching dilemma that arises when either father or daughter (the plot keeps us guessing) must confront his or her inevitable demise. The film takes its own sweet time to establish this emotional crisis and the love that binds Hopkins's semidysfunctional family so closely together. But if you've stuck with the story this far, you may find yourself surprisingly affected. And if Meet Joe Black has really won you over, you'll more than appreciate the care and affection that gives the film a depth and richness that so many critics chose to ignore. --Jeff Shannon