Meet Joe Black

William Parrish is a wealthy and powerful media magnate whose ordered life is interrupted shortly before his sixty-fifth birthday. A mysterious young man named Joe Black arrives at his home and reveals that he is Death, proposing a bargain: William will be granted more time if he lets Joe accompany him through the world of the living as his guide. Joe settles into the family's daily life, and William introduces him as a guest, but the arrangement grows complicated when Joe becomes drawn to William's daughter Susan, who had briefly met the young man whose body Joe has taken. Joe discovers feelings he has never experienced, while William must reckon with what the bargain will ultimately cost him.

The film is based on the 1934 movie Death Takes a Holiday. Martin Brest directed and produced it, working from a screenplay by Ron Osborn, Jeff Reno and Kevin Wade. It was Brest's fourth feature, following Beverly Hills Cop, Midnight Run and Scent of a Woman. Brad Pitt plays both Joe Black and the young man Susan meets in a coffee shop, with Anthony Hopkins as William Parrish, Claire Forlani as Susan, Jake Weber as Drew, Marcia Gay Harden as Allison and Jeffrey Tambor as Quince.

Released in November 1998, the film runs just under three hours and cost around 90 million dollars, returning roughly 143 million dollars worldwide. Audience response has been warmer than critical opinion: on IMDb it holds a 7.2 rating from about 298,000 votes and on TMDB a 7.4 from around 6,000 votes, while the critics' rating stands at 5.9 from 52 reviews.