The uncharitable could make mileage of the issue that the film upon which “Meet Joe Black” is based, Mitchell Leisen’s 1934 Paramount release “Death Takes a Holiday,” ran just 78 minutes, except for the fact that the new picture isn’t a remake in any meaningful sense. Rarely has there been a film with so little justification for such a marathon running time much of the problem stems from the dialogue direction, which often has the actors pausing significantly for many seconds between lines. Here, he pushes his luck too far by extending a slim conceit to a full three hours. Martin Brest skated on thin ice but got away with it, at least with moviegoers, when he stretched his last film, “Scent of a Woman,” out to 157 minutes.
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