MEET JOE BLACK test screening review... positive

Well, here's a different angle on MEET JOE BLACK, a film that Hallenbeck tore apart if memory serves. Kit's been with the site for a good long time, and tore the hell out of WILD THINGS and EVENT HORIZON. He's done some good reporting and is honest, so who is wrong? Neither. Both are right. For the reasons stated below Kit embraced the film, and Joe didn't have those reasons to enjoy it. Thus is the way of things. Ultimately though, all test screening thus far on MEET JOE BLACK have come so far in advance, that to take them seriously, when the film is so long right now... well it would be a mistake. Let's see what the final score and cut of the film brings, but as of now, the film is on level ground again....

Its Kit Latura back from a long absence. I've been waiting for someone else to respond to Hallenbeck's immediate dismissal of MEET JOE BLACK, but as far as I know, nobody else ever reviewed it.

Going in to the test screening, I was dreading a long night. All I knew about it was Brad Pitt was playing the Grim Reaper, uh ohh...

I'm glad to say I was mistaken.

In fact let me finally set everyone straight, MEET JOE BLACK will receive several Oscar nominations next year. It is one of the most intelligently written adult romantic comedies I've seen.

Credit for this film goes first to the director, Martin Brest. He pulls strong performances from his cast and keeps most scenes suspenseful and sharp.

Writers, Ron Osborn, Jeff Reno and Bo Goldman do a masterful job updating DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY to the nineties. This script could easily have degenerated into a silly supernatural farce. There is obvious intelligence in this screenplay. How many Hollywood films can you say that about this year?

I don't want to give too much away in describing the action. Part of the fun is not knowing what is coming next. To sum it up briefly, Anthony Hopkins plays a millionaire television tycoon, obviously modeled on both Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch. One day he is paid a visit by Death who has chosen the human form of Brad Pitt.

Death has arrived to claim Hopkins' life but luck turns out to (at least partially) be on his side. Before Hopkins' demise Death has decided to take a break from his chores of claiming souls and stay with Hopkins for a few days on earth. He has lost touch with the human race and wants to get an idea of how people are functioning in our present age. Hopkins must now make his every last remaining minute count before Death goes back on the clock and returns to work.

Unfortunately, Death's timing is bad because there is a hostile takeover underway at Hopkins' television station. The other problem is that with Death grabbing a little r and r, nobody on earth can die, including the elderly who are seriously ill and in pain. I realize in encapsulating the plot this briefly it sounds completely ridiculous and in lesser hands the film would have been that.

One stand out scene in particular takes place when Anthony Hopkins is first confronted with his imminent death. Hopkins' reaction was so completely genuine and chilling that there was complete silence in the theater. In a crowd of mostly teenagers, there was no laughing, coughing or giggling. Everyone was riveted. There is no other way to put it, Hopkins is brilliant in this film, but then again what else is new?

Brad Pitt is also good. There is a scene where he is required to speak using a Jamaican accent which had me unintentionally smirking a little, but otherwise, believe it or not, he is well cast as the physical embodiment of death.

Jeffrey Tambor, Hank Kingsley from THE LARRY SANDERS SHOW, (what happened to his role in THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY by the way?) is hilarious and steals every scene in which he appears.

Claire Forlani, who plays Hopkins' daughter and Pitt's potential love interest is convincing and perfectly cast. I have never seen her in anything before. She will become a familiar face in the future based on the level of her performance in this film.

The main fault I found in MEET JOE BLACK was that there were too many unnecessary scenes. The cut I saw was a little under three hours in length and the editors had obviously thrown in every last little trim they could find. Things tended to drag towards the middle. Yet the dialogue is so sharp that even these superfluous scenes have their moments. With a little splicing here and there they will be able to shore up the pace with no problem.

MEET JOE BLACK will probably be test screened again when it is shortened. There will be talk about it when it is released this fall (I am sure in perfect time for Oscar consideration). So remember you've heard it first from Kit, catch MEET JOE BLACK, as early as possible. Don't listen to the blowhard who had BASEKETBALL and ARMAGEDDON pegged as the must-see films of the summer. MEET JOE BLACK is a film you won't want to miss.

K.L.