Meet Joe Black

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Meet Joe Black ★★ 1998 (PG-13)

It's too long. And it's unremittingly hokey. But, it does have the savvy Hopkins and Pitt in full desirable object mode. In this reworking of 1934's “Death Takes a Holiday,” Pitt plays a not-so-Grim Reaper who decides to see what living is all about by inhabiting the body of a recently deceased man. He grants some extra time to wealthy businessman William Parrish (Hopkins), if he'll serve as Death's guide. Now named Joe Black, Death takes to his new life but causes problems in Parrish's household, especially when he falls in love with Parrish's doctor daughter, Susan (a weak Forlani). 180m/C VHS, DVD, HD DVD .Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, Claire Forlani, Marcia Gay Harden, Jeffrey Tambor, Jake Weber; D: Martin Brest; W: Ron Osborn, Jeff Reno, Kevin Wade, Bo Goldman; C: Emmanuel Lubezki; M: Thomas Newman.