27 lines
2.4 KiB
Plaintext
27 lines
2.4 KiB
Plaintext
meet joe black ( reviewed on nov . 27/98 )
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starring brad pitt , anthony hopkins , claire forlani
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in " meet joe black " , brad pitt plays death .
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that's all that really needs to be said , but nevertheless , i will provide the three of you that have seemingly been living in a cave with a plot description .
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death decides to take a holiday , what with all the rigors of soul-collecting and all , and forces anthony hopkins into showing him what it's like to be human .
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death assumes the body of brad pitt , and from there , much trouble ensues .
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for one thing , death-as-pitt falls in love with hopkins daughter , played by claire forlani .
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obviously this enrages hopkins , because really , what can death offer ?
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besides eternal damnation , of course .
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there is also a sub-plot about forlani's ex-boyfriend ( she dumps him for pitt ) trying to take over hopkins company .
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" meet joe black " runs just under three hours .
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i've always thought that such obscene running times should be limited to historical epics .
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" meet joe black " is neither historical nor is it an epic , though i get the feeling martin brest ( the director ) desperately wants it to be .
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every single scene in the movie goes on about 3-4 minutes too long .
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and the ending takes about 20 minutes longer than it really should .
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a severe editing job could have made this movie excellent , instead of just good , which is what it is .
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pitt , an actor i normally loathe , is actually quite engaging as death .
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i believed his performance , and i could see why forlani's character would fall in love with him .
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i have to agree with roger ebert , though , who found it hard to believe that an entity that's been around for all time wouldn't know what peanut butter was .
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that has nothing to do with pitt's performance , of course , but it is a little distracting .
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hopkins gives his usual excellent performance .
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he's able to portray the angst of a man who knows he has very little time left , without making him an obnoxious whiner .
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and in her first major studio role , claire forlani is surprisingly good .
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she has a sweet tenderness that allows the audience to instantly root for her .
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so , " meet joe black " is a good movie hampered by it's ridiculous running time .
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had the film been cut by an hour or so , i have no doubt that i would be calling it one of the best movies of the year in this review .
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