History Film / MeetJoeBlack

In this 3-hour-long 1998 remake of ''Film/DeathTakesAHoliday'', Death decides it's time to experience some life for himself, so he grabs the body of a young man (BradPitt) who was hit by a car while crossing the street, and casually inserts himself into the life of a well-to-do businessman named Bill Parrish (AnthonyHopkins), who is scheduled to die on his 65th birthday (which is only a few short days away). Though initially - and understandably - reluctant to play host and tour guide to Death, Bill agrees not to tell anyone who "Joe" actually is on the condition that he leaves Bill's family alone at the end of their venture. Complications arise when it turns out the young man whose body Death took was flirting with Bill's daughter Susan (Claire Forlani) only a few minutes before he died, and she and Joe begin to develop feelings for one another.

* BadAss: Both Bill and Joe in respective different ways.

In this 3-hour-long 1998 remake of ''Death Takes A Holiday'', Death decides it's time to experience some life for himself, so he grabs the body of a young man (BradPitt) who was hit by a car while crossing the street, and casually inserts himself into the life of a well-to-do businessman named Bill Parrish (AnthonyHopkins), who is scheduled to die on his 65th birthday (which is only a few short days away). Though initially - and understandably - reluctant to play host and tour guide to Death, Bill agrees not to tell anyone who "Joe" actually is on the condition that he leaves Bill's family alone at the end of their venture. Complications arise when it turns out the young man whose body Death took was flirting with Bill's daughter Susan (Claire Forlani) only a few minutes before he died, and she and Joe begin to develop feelings for one another.

In this long 1998 remake of ''Death Takes A Holiday'', Death decides it's time to experience some life for himself, so he grabs the body of a young man (BradPitt) who was hit by a car while crossing the street, and casually inserts himself into the life of a well-to-do businessman named Bill Parrish (AnthonyHopkins), who is scheduled to die on his 65th birthday (which is only a few short days away). Though initially - and understandably - reluctant to play host and tour guide to Death, Bill agrees not to tell anyone who "Joe" actually is on the condition that he leaves Bill's family alone at the end of their venture. Complications arise when it turns out the young man whose body Death took was flirting with Bill's daughter Susan (Claire Forlani) only a few minutes before he died, and she and Joe begin to develop feelings for one another.

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* LookBothWays: The body Joe takes. Ouch.

* AudienceSurrogate: Joe, particularly at the beginning (when he serves as the audience's exploratory vehicle within Bill Parrish's estate), and the end, when he tears up watching Bill and Susan's dance, and acts as the receptacle for Bill's summative reflections, parroting the anticipated reaction of the audience watching the end of the movie.

* BriefAccentImitation: Done marvelously when Joe speaks with a very sick little old lady from the islands. Possibly Brad's best accent performance other than ''Film/{{Snatch}}'', it's almost unnerving when he switches back to his normal voice afterwards.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The film opens with a slow pan across a tree to reveal Bill's estate...the same tree that Joe waits beneath, at the end of the movie.

** Also, after [[spoiler:Nameless is returned to Susan by Death, and the only explanation he offers for his total shift in personal and immediate-onset amnesia is "It's all a blur": she asks, incredulously, "That's it?" Her question echoes the incredulity assumed on the part of the audience, who are expected to swallow her acceptance of a totally inexplicable personality-turnabout, in the interest of a happy ending.]]

* SatelliteLoveInterest: Susan. She's defined by her relationship with Drew, then her relationship with Joe, and, of course, her relationship with Bill. In fact, the only other thing we know about her is that she seems to remind Bill of his wife; essentially, that she's important to her dad because she reminds him of ''another'' shallow love interest.

In this long 1998 remake of ''Death Takes A Holiday'', Death decides it's time to experience some life for himself, so he grabs the body of a young man (BradPitt) who was hit by a car while crossing the street, and casually inserts himself into the life of a well-to-do businessman named Bill Parrish (AnthonyHopkins), who is scheduled to die on his 65th birthday (which is only a few short days away). Though initially - and understandably - reluctant to play host and tour guide to Death, Bill agrees not to tell anyone who "Joe" actually is on the condition that he leaves Bill's family alone at the end of their venture. Complications ensue when it turns out the young man whose body Death took was flirting with Bill's daughter Susan (Claire Forlani) only a few minutes before he died, and she and Joe begin to develop feelings for one another.

* BriefAccentImitation: Done marvelously when Joe speaks with a very sick little old lady from the islands. Possibly Brad's best accent performance other than ''Film/{{Snatch}}''.

In this long remake of ''Death Takes A Holiday'', Death decides it's time to experience some life for himself, so he grabs the body of a young man who was hit by two cars while crossing the street, and casually inserts himself into the life of a well-to-do businessman named Bill Parrish, who's about to turn 65 (and die). Complications ensue when it turns out the young man whose body he took was flirting with Bill's daughter Susan only a few minutes before he died, and Susan is dating one of the businessman's most important employees.

Death, nicknamed Joe Black by Parrish, is played by BradPitt, Bill Parrish is played by AnthonyHopkins, and his daughter Susan is played by Claire Forlani. The film was directed by Martin Brest, previously known for (among others) ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop'' (1984) and ''Film/MidnightRun'' (1988).

* MoodWhiplash: After Susan and Brad Pitt's character from the coffee shop part ways, they walk away down the street, occasionally sneaking wistful glances at the other's retreating form over their shoulder. Pitt's character slows to a stop and turns around in the middle of the street to watch as she disappears around the corner at the far end of the street... then gets nailed by a passing car, flies into the air, and gets hit by a second car going the opposite direction.

In this long remake of ''Death Takes A Holiday'', Death decides it's time to experience some life for himself. So he grabs himself a well-to-do businessman named Bill Parrish, who's about to turn 65 (and die) and the body of a young man who was hit by two cars while crossing the street. Complications ensue when it turns out the young man whose body he took was just flirting with the 64-year-old's daughter before he died, a daughter who is dating one of the businessman's most important employees.

Death, nicknamed Joe Black by Parrish, is played by BradPitt. Bill Parrish is played by AnthonyHopkins. Susan Parrish is played by Claire Forlani. The film was directed by Martin Brest, previously known for (among others) ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop'' (1984) and ''Film/MidnightRun'' (1988).

!!Examples:

* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: [[MrFanservice Very]] comfortable with. Death takes a nice human form, naturally.
* AudienceSurrogate: Joe, particularly at the beginning (when he serves as the audience's exploratory vehicle within Bill Parrish's estate), and the end, when he tears up watching the dance and acts as the receptacle for Bill's summative reflections, parroting the anticipated reaction of the audience watching the end of the movie.

* CreepyMonotone: Joe tends to speak this way almost all the time. Particularly unsettling when Bill is [[DissonantSerenity yelling at him and Joe calmly reminds him]] who he's dealing with.

* FirstTimeFeeling: Joe has no experience with love whatsoever and so falling for Susan completely overwhelms him.

* TheReveal: In-universe, after leaving all of Bill's associates wondering about him all movie, he finally "comes clean" in the "death and taxes" scene. Of course, he's not exactly truthful, making this some kind of [[ZigZaggedTrope weird reverse meta-subversion]].
* SatelliteLoveInterest: Susan. She's defined by her relationship with Drew, then her relationship with Joe, and, of course, her relationship with Bill. In fact, the only other thing we know about her is that she seems to remind Bill of his wife; essentially, that she's important to her dad because she reminds him of Another shallow love interest.

* SenseFreak: Joe Black takes quite a fondness for peanut butter.

* UncannyValley: Brad Pitt's first appearance as Death is a three and a half minute scene, during which he blinks exactly ''once''. His inflection is also creepily wrong [[note]](most people's voices go ''up'' at the end of a sentence when they're asking a question - his voice goes ''down'')[[/note]].

Death, nicknamed Joe Black by Parrish, is played by BradPitt. Bill Parrish is played by AnthonyHopkins. Susan Parrish is played by ClaireForlani. The film was directed by MartinBrest, previously known for (among others) ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop'' (1984) and ''Film/MidnightRun'' (1988).

*** [[spoiler:The above only needs handwaved if Susan doesn't know that Joe was really Death. The movie is a bit vague on the point, but he must have revealed his true identity to her (at the party when he was staring at her intensely), because how else would she have known her father was dead? Her confusion when Coffee Shop Guy comes back over the bridge can be explained as her thinking it was Joe had come back, and she only realises it's Coffee Shop Guy after he specifically refers to events at the coffee shop.]]

* MeaningfulEcho: "Death and taxes".
* NoNameGiven: The Body Joe. He's only billed as "Young Man in Coffee Shop".

* SmugSnake: Drew, who has been scheming behind Bill's back (see CorruptCorporateExecutive) while dating his daughter.

* TheReveal: In-universe, after leaving all of Bill's associates wondering about him all movie, he finally "comes clean" in the "death and taxes" scene. Of course, he's not exactly truthful, making this some kind of [[ZigZaggedTrope weird reverse meta-subversion]].
* TheThreeCertaintiesInLife: "...the truth is, joining John Bontecou is every bit as certain as death and taxes."

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* ReCut: The airline version shortens in fifty minutes, mostly by cutting some of the corporate wars - Martin Brest protested (thus it's credited to AlanSmithee - and it's not [[ScentOfAWoman his first time]]) but apparently it was praised by those who saw it.

* BriefAccentImitation: Done marvelously when Joe speaks with a very sick little old lady from the islands. Possibly Brad's best accent performance other than ''SeeTheInvisible{{Snatch}}''.

* BriefAccentImitation: Done marvelously when Joe speaks with a very sick little old lady from the islands. Possibly Brad's best accent performance other than ''{{Snatch}}''.

Death, nicknamed Joe Black by Parrish, is played by BradPitt. Bill Parrish is played by AnthonyHopkins. Susan Parrish is played by ClaireForlani. The film was directed by MartinBrest, previously known for (among others) ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop'' (1984) and ''Film/MidnightRun'' (1988). The film was a moderate box office hit, its worldwide gross estimated to 142,940,100 dollars (though its domestic total was an unimpressive $44 million, not even half of its budget).

Death, nicknamed Joe Black by Parrish, is played by BradPitt. Bill Parrish is played by AnthonyHopkins. Susan Parrish is played by ClaireForlani. The film was directed by MartinBrest, previously known for (among others) ''BeverlyHillsCop'' (1984) and ''MidnightRun'' (1988). The film was a moderate box office hit, its worldwide gross estimated to 142,940,100 dollars (though its domestic total was an unimpressive $44 million, not even half of its budget).

* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: [[EstrogenBrigadeBait Very]] comfortable with. Death takes a nice human form, naturally.

** Although, for some reason, they still skip foreplay.

* TheNameless: The Body Joe. He's only billed as "Young Man in Coffee Shop".

* OffscreenVillainDarkMatter: Drew is subtly implied to be much worse than he initially appears. When he first meets the mortal incarnation of Death, he's got this nagging sense that they've "done business before".

* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: [[EstrogenBrigade Very]] comfortable with. Death takes a nice human form, naturally.

* ShallowLoveInterest: Susan. She's defined by her relationship with Drew, then her relationship with Joe, and, of course, her relationship with Bill. In fact, the only other thing we know about her is that she seems to remind Bill of his wife; essentially, that she's important to her dad because she reminds him of Another shallow love interest.
** Ironically Joe is this from Susan's perspective. All she knows about him is he's [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith a bit unusual]], works with her dad, and really likes peanut butter.
--> '''Susan''': I'm in love with a man. But I don't know who he is, where he's going, or when.

* OffscreenVillainyDarkMatter: Drew is subtly implied to be much worse than he initially appears. When he first meets the mortal incarnation of Death, he's got this nagging sense that they've "done business before".

* HandWave: Why did Death, after witnessing all of human history and everything beyond, pick a rich, white American businessman as his guide to life? Given the entire planet to choose from, why would he spend his time exclusively in an apartment in Manhattan and an estate on Rhode Island? The film's hand-wave is that Death was intriuged by the ineffable life-guidance given by Bill to his daughter. The device is successful strictly on the basis of Anthony Hopkins' badassery.

* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: Death takes human form, naturally.