The old Paramount classic Death Takes A Holiday gets a stylish turn of the 21st century remake, Meet Joe Black with Brad Pitt as the grim reaper himself taking a sabbatical to experience what he deprives everyone of, ultimately. The story has been updated from Italy during World War I to America in the new age of information.

The guy who benefits for a short while is multimillionaire media tycoon Anthony Hopkins who is approaching his 65th birthday. He's a widower with two daughters, Marcia Gay Harden who is married to Jeffrey Tambor and Clare Forlani who's in love with love. In fact at the beginning of the film Clare who is a doctor has a chance meeting with Brad Pitt just before he's rundown in a busy New York street and the pale horseman takes over his body.

It's a good thing Hopkins got this reprieve because there's some real nasty double-dealing taking place in his firm. His young right hand man, Jake Weber, is looking to affect a merger with another conglomerate that would ruin all that Hopkins has built in his life. But Weber of course hasn't the slightest idea who Hopkins's new ally is. Let alone the resources he can bring to bear.

Meet Joe Black is a fine film which has a lot to say about the meaning of life and how important it is to use that time on earth in mortal form to become the best you can be. Pitt and Hopkins have very good chemistry and Webber is one of the slimier villains ever put on film.

And see how it all works out for everyone in the end. In fact that's the real message of Meet Joe Black, it all does work out in the end.

Media mogul Bill Parrish (Anthony Hopkins) is close to his 65th birthday. He has two daughters Susan (Claire Forlani) and Allison (Marcia Gay Harden). Allison is busy planning the celebration. Susan is a medical resident who is in a passionless relationship with Drew (Jake Weber). William tells Susan that he likes Drew as a business underling but he doesn't sense that she truly loves him. He urges her to find true love. In a diner, she meets a young flirtatious man (Brad Pitt). He seems to melt her heart but unbeknownst to her, he is killed crossing a street. Bill keeps hearing a voice which is Death who comes to visit and learn from Bill. He takes on the name Joe Black.

Throughout the entire movie, I kept trying to work out what Susan thinks about Joe Black. The best that I can come up with is that he's really pretty. The problem is that I completely bought into their first encounter. Brad Pitt is quite charming as well as being pretty. I don't understand her thinking after seeing him acting like a completely different person. He's either faking the first encounter or he's faking later. At the very least, he's up to no good. The movie seems to use Pitt's pretty face as a patch-all for any deficiencies. Basically she falls for two different personalities. The only thing that stays the same is the pretty pretty Brad Pitt.

The second half has a bit better chemistry between Pitt and Hopkins. At least, their story gets a bit interesting. However it doesn't solve the original problem or make it bearable to sit for 3 hours through this. The best way to solve some of these problems is just to cut out the diner scene. It wouldn't change much in the plot and the story would make more sense.

Meet Joe Black is a remake of Death Takes a Holiday.

When this film was released it was apparently the most expensive non action movie ever made.

Martin Brest has certainly made a very long romantic fantasy that is a bit of a misfire.

Bill Parrish (Anthony Hopkins) is a media mogul that is contemplating a merger with a brash rival. He is also about to celebrate his 65th birthday.

His older daughter Allison (Marcia Gay Harden) is planning a lavish party where even the President might drop in.

His younger daughter Susan (Claire Forlani) is training to be a doctor and is his favourite. She is in a sparkless relationship with duplicitous Drew, an arrogant executive in Bill's company.

Susan encounters a charming stranger one morning in a diner. A flirt played by Brad Pitt who is suddenly run over when he later crosses the road. His dead body is taken over by Death and he later comes to visit Bill and hangs around with him for a few days. In that time Death meets Susan once more and falls in love with her.

The best bit about Meet Joe Black is the big expensive party that Allison is planning. The kind of glitzy and kitschy party disgraced tycoons such as Jeffrey Skilling and Bernie Madoff used to throw with other people's money.

There are no hints that Bill is a cynical manipulative power hungry media tycoon. So that part is certainly a fantasy. In fact this is one of the movie's problems. The boardroom backstabbing is boring and obvious. Bill is so passive, you wonder how he made it big in the corporate jungle.

Then there is the character of Death in human form. At times knowing very little of life on Earth and at other times he is all knowing. It is bizarre storytelling.

It is a muddled film with a funereal pace. Pitt struggles and even more with that Haitian accent. Hopkins does his best with little characterisation, Forlani looks pretty but failed to convince me that she was a doctor.