M-FOR-MOVIES!!

A comedy of manners which cocks a wryly amused eye at the pomp and circumstance attending preparations for the marriage of a nice Jewish boy (Berri himself) to a nice Jewish girl (Wiener).He is French ,poor, a bit of a dreamer; she is Belgian, rich, practical and pregnant .Complications set in when she realizes she truly loves him ,but he goes starry-eyed about an English teacher (Harrington).All comes out in the wash ,of course ,though not without the caustic implication that a happy Jewish family in the land is worth two grand passions in the bush. What makes the film, really, is its complete refusal to fall back on stereotypical characters and situations .Its constant alertness to eccentricities of behavior makes it both engaging and often very funny.

On the eve of his 65th birthday, media magnate William Parrish (Hopkins) feels heart tremors giving him notice to quit. In the meantime, he tells daughter Susan (Forlani) that her fiancé, his right-hand man Drew (Weber), is not quite right for her, which she too realizes when sparks fly with a complete stranger in a New York café. After they part, she fails to notice him being run over and killed; even so, she’s still surprised when he turns up at her father’s house for dinner. In fact, Death (Pitt) has arrived in town for a look around. He’s using the young man’s body and has chosen Hopkins as his guide. Four writers have adapted Mitchell Leisen’s 1934 film Death Takes a Holiday and spun it out to three hours. The result is seductively luxurious, with Hopkins bringing authority to his portrait pf a man facing his end, and Pitt teasingly enigmatic as the force of mortality in human guise. But the drama’s various elements – fantasy thriller, romantic fable, corporate shootout, family reconciliation -fail to pull together, and the interminable finale is simply soft in the head.