This is Hollywood at the crossroads of glossy and classy, with Hopkins at the peak of his powers and Pitt at his most transcendent.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 7, 2024

A gimmicky premise is made even worse by iffy acting, hilariously bad dialogue, and a slow pace.

| Jan 17, 2024

[A] glossy but overlong update of Mitchell Leisen’s 1934 comedy Death Takes a Holiday.

| Mar 28, 2023

Meet Joe Black was a box office flub back in the late 1990s. But the three hour fantasy-romance movie isn’t all bad and like other cult classics like The Room, is so confidently ridiculous at times, you won't soon forget it.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 20, 2022

Not bad, just not as good as it could have been had the editor been allowed to hack an hour or so off the running time.

| Oct 26, 2020

A savory, extralong feature whose obvious plotlines unfold with an almost painful slowness that somehow makes them deeper.

| Oct 26, 2020

To call the three-hour-long "Meet Joe Black" leaden would do an injustice to lead.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Oct 26, 2020

I've never encountered such dramatic flatulence, never heard so many pregnant silences that don't deliver, never watched so many close-ups that graze on actors' faces until every last trace of expression has been devoured.

| Oct 26, 2020

Martin Brest's weepie is nicely played but overlong - especially considering the original zipped by in under 80 minutes.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 26, 2020

One tedious, sentimental, drawn out scene gives way to another and death does seem to be having dominion over us.

| Oct 26, 2020

Pitt, who is not asked to do much more here than behave alternately like a robot, a bashful boy and a moron, fulfills his modest tasks with aplomb. When he has to act, though, he fares less well.

| Oct 26, 2020

Meet Joe Black marks the latest in a succession of strong turns by Anthony Hopkins. More than even [Brad] Pitt, the film serves as a showcase for the versatile and talented Oscar winner.

| Original Score: B | Apr 12, 2019

You just feel like you're dragging a set of dumbbells around with you while you're watching it.

| Feb 6, 2018

Meet Joe Black is sometimes clever and enjoyable, even touching, yet too often the film makes you feel as if you're in Sunday school.

| Original Score: B- | Sep 7, 2011

What might have been an effective fantasy if handled with sophistication and insouciance is instead weighed down by ponderous pacing, overstuffed production values and an instance of miscasting.

| Jul 22, 2008

Long but never boring, spiritual but never soggy, this is the brand of big entertainment Hollywood is best at but so rarely does right these days.

| Original Score: A- | Mar 11, 2008

| Original Score: D+ | Apr 9, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 2/10 | Oct 12, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | May 20, 2003

Meet Joe Black is a film with potential that could have been helped immeasurably by being cut to 2 hours.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 8, 2003