11.13.98 06:38:55
Gorgeous, but deadly

Meet Joe Black
**1/2 (out of five)
Starring Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, Claire Forlani, Jake Weber. A Universal Pictures release written by Ron Osborn & Jeff Reno and Kevin Wade and Bo Goldman, directed by Martin Brest. Rated PG-13, contains adult situations, nudity. Running time: 181 minutes.

By JIM SEAVOR
Journal Arts Writer

Let's get the most important thing about Meet Joe Black out of the way right at the start: The lawn of Warwick's Aldrich Mansion looks great. Especially when seen from above as a helicopter approaches the shore.

As for the rest of the film, despite some good performances, it comes across as a good movie buried beneath a much too large and lethargic production. Consider: the film Death Takes a Holiday , upon which this is based, ran 78 minutes. Meet Joe Black lasts three hours.

This is the kind of film in which, if two people could glance back at each other twice as they part, four or five times is considered better. It's filled with l-o-n-g meaningful stares and pauses that would make Pinter weak with envy. Scenes that should rise and fall with passion are played out at the same emotional level.

Meet Joe Black gets off to a strong start. Media mogul William Parrish (Anthony Hopkins) awakens in pain in the middle of the night. While trying to push the pain away, he hears a quiet voice saying, "Yes.''

But he doesn't have time to dwell on discomfort. He's facing a merger at work and one of his daughters (Marcia Gay Harden) is planning a massive party for his 65th birthday. His other daughter (Claire Forlani) is a doctor set to marry Parrish's top aide, but her father doesn't see the depth of emotion in her relationship he feels is needed. As he puts it, it has "all the passion of a pair of titmice.''

He wants her to find someone she can "love like crazy.'' Immediately after being told this, she meets a likable young man (Brad Pitt) at a coffee shop. It's one of those brief, but telling, meetings filmdom thrives on.

Not long after, a Parrish family dinner is interrupted by a mysterious young man (Pitt), who turns out to be Death. He's come for William Parrish.

But he has a deal to offer. Parrish will gain time if he teaches Death about life. Parrish agrees and Death -- now named Joe Black -- puts off the final reckoning. At least as long as he remains interested in his lessons.

This, of course, allows the bland -- but not necessarily grim -- reaper to learn about love, with the doctor daughter.

On top of all this, Parrish is facing a coup over that merger deal.

There's a lot going on in Meet Joe Black, and some of it is fun. After all, Death isn't familiar with living, so he's awkward around such things as small talk and eating. Pitt does strike up a moving relationship with a Jamaican woman (Lois Kelly-Miller) who wants to die, but it isn't her time.

And there is Anthony Hopkins.

Here is an actor who, apparently, can do no wrong, and he is much stronger here than he was in Amistad . His Kenneth Parrish can be the tough corporate leader and the caring parent. When he is battling his physical pain, Hopkins conveys the mounting panic as he starts to realize what's happening to him.

When he is on the screen, Meet Joe Black has a center.

When he's off the screen, the film loses ground.

Lacks chemistry

Brad Pitt is stiff as Joe Black. Granted, the character is supposed to be unsure of where he's going as Death learns the ropes, but what he does is all surface. Only occasionally does a sly glimmer appear in his eyes. This is a wooden Death.

Even when Pitt is supposed to be the charmer in that first encounter in the coffee shop, there is little energy involved.

Claire Forlani does well as the doctor daughter and Death's girlfriend. She has a beauty that is not traditional Hollywood and brings the film a much-needed warmth. But she cannot manufacture any chemistry between her and Pitt.

In fact, most of the performances in Meet Joe Black are on target: from Harden's other daughter to Jake Weber's succeed-at-all-costs second-in-command.

It's not the performances that are the problem.

Nor is it the look of the film. The sets are sumptuous and the lighting rich. The birthday party, shot in Warwick, is impressive with its fireworks, which caused so much controversy when they kept local residents awake during the filming.

Slo-mo pacing

The problem, I'm afraid, lies with director-producer Martin Brest and his approach to the material. He apparently was aiming at a dreamlike quality. Even when the charactors shout, they seem muted. The pace is slow. Instead of pulling you into the action, this may have you sitting there wishing you had a pair of scissors to cut the movie over again.

Meet Joe Black , even while looking good and with Hopkins's fine performance, has a lot of trouble staying alive.

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