meet joe black ( reviewed on nov . 27/98 ) 
starring brad pitt , anthony hopkins , claire forlani 
in " meet joe black " , brad pitt plays death . 
that's all that really needs to be said , but nevertheless , i will provide the three of you that have seemingly been living in a cave with a plot description . 
death decides to take a holiday , what with all the rigors of soul-collecting and all , and forces anthony hopkins into showing him what it's like to be human . 
death assumes the body of brad pitt , and from there , much trouble ensues . 
for one thing , death-as-pitt falls in love with hopkins daughter , played by claire forlani . 
obviously this enrages hopkins , because really , what can death offer ? 
besides eternal damnation , of course . 
there is also a sub-plot about forlani's ex-boyfriend ( she dumps him for pitt ) trying to take over hopkins company . 
 " meet joe black " runs just under three hours . 
i've always thought that such obscene running times should be limited to historical epics . 
 " meet joe black " is neither historical nor is it an epic , though i get the feeling martin brest ( the director ) desperately wants it to be . 
every single scene in the movie goes on about 3-4 minutes too long . 
and the ending takes about 20 minutes longer than it really should . 
a severe editing job could have made this movie excellent , instead of just good , which is what it is . 
pitt , an actor i normally loathe , is actually quite engaging as death . 
i believed his performance , and i could see why forlani's character would fall in love with him . 
i have to agree with roger ebert , though , who found it hard to believe that an entity that's been around for all time wouldn't know what peanut butter was . 
that has nothing to do with pitt's performance , of course , but it is a little distracting . 
hopkins gives his usual excellent performance . 
he's able to portray the angst of a man who knows he has very little time left , without making him an obnoxious whiner . 
and in her first major studio role , claire forlani is surprisingly good . 
she has a sweet tenderness that allows the audience to instantly root for her . 
so , " meet joe black " is a good movie hampered by it's ridiculous running time . 
had the film been cut by an hour or so , i have no doubt that i would be calling it one of the best movies of the year in this review .