Martin Brest’s Meet Joe Black (1998) is an ambitious, sprawling exploration of death’s curiosity and life’s fragility, wrapped in a romantic fantasy that dares to linger where others rush. Stretching across three hours, this loose remake of Death Takes a Holiday casts Death himself as a wide-eyed visitor in human form, inhabiting the body of a young man to learn about life through a wealthy media tycoon’s family. The film is a paradox lavish yet intimate, profound yet ponderous its heart beating with sincerity even as it stumbles under its own weight.

Brad Pitt, as Death incarnate (and the ill-fated Joe Black), delivers a performance that’s both mesmerizing and uneven. His early scenes are eerie, his stiff movements and halting speech capturing an otherworldly being grappling with human flesh. Yet, as the film shifts to romance, his charm feels strained, unable to fully bridge the gap between cosmic entity and lovesick suitor. Anthony Hopkins, as Bill Parrish, the tycoon facing his mortality, is the film’s anchor. His gravitas every glance heavy with regret and resolve grounds the fantastical premise, making Bill’s existential reckoning the film’s emotional core. Claire Forlani, as Susan, brings a luminous vulnerability, though her character’s arc feels underwritten, caught between archetype and agency.

Brest’s direction is indulgent, luxuriating in long takes and opulent settings Bill’s Manhattan mansion and corporate boardrooms gleam with a dreamlike sheen. Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki bathes the film in warm golds and soft shadows, creating a visual language that feels like a memory of life itself, tender and fleeting. Yet, this lushness can overwhelm; the film’s pacing sags, with subplots like corporate intrigue dragging focus from its deeper themes. The screenplay, credited to four writers, weaves moments of poetic clarity Bill’s reflections on love and legacy cut deep but often meanders into repetitive dialogue, as if unsure how to fill its runtime.

Thomas Newman’s score, with its delicate piano and soaring strings, is a quiet triumph, underscoring the film’s emotional peaks without overpowering them. Where Meet Joe Black falters is in its ambition; it reaches for profundity but sometimes grasps cliché, particularly in its romantic beats, which feel more obligatory than organic. The film’s length, while deliberate, tests patience, diluting its impact. Yet, its meditation on mortality Death learning to savor peanut butter, Bill wrestling with a life well-lived strikes a chord that resonates beyond its flaws. This is a film that dares to ask what makes life worth living, and though it doesn’t always answer cleanly, its tenderness lingers like a half-remembered dream.