Rating: 3 out of 4
Running Time: 114 minutes
This feature from A24 opens exclusively in theaters on Wednesday, Nov. 26.
After living a full lifetime with your partner, would you be willing to spend the rest of eternity in the afterlife with them? Or would you want to start anew and rekindle a relationship with a lost love?
Generally speaking, that is the question that the new romantic-comedy Eternity asks. Much like a few of its characters, the film can be overly ponderous and change its mind too frequently, but there are plenty of laughs and warm moments to leave a lasting, positive effect.
Viewers are introduced to bickering but loving couple Larry (Barry Primus) and Joan (Betty Buckley). Now in their 80s, the pair head out to a party and ponder whether to tell their family about a terminal illness. That problem fades to the background when one of them suddenly finds themselves in the afterlife and is introduced to Anna (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), an afterlife coordinator.
It’s explained that, when one dies, they return to their happiest self and have a week to choose where to spend eternity. Before long, both members of the married couple reunite on site, now finding themselves in younger form. Larry (Miles Teller) and Joan (Elizabeth Olsen) are forced to pick a setting to spend infinity. But it isn’t that simple for Joan.
Her lost love and first husband Luke (Callum Turner), who died in the Korean War, has been waiting for her for some 70 years. He wants to reconnect and spend eternity with her.
She can only pick one of them, leading to a complicated and difficult situation.
The afterlife setting is an amusing one, with Anna and fellow afterlife coordinator Ryan (John Early) amusingly explaining the rules, while also having to contend with questions from the recently deceased that they can’t answer.
Another big plus from the screenplay is the setting. It all feels like a travel convention in a hotel, with various billboards offering a wide variety of impressive and incredibly eccentric options for the public. Some of them are remarkably funny, including a bit in which the coordinators take one of the leads into a room full of areas “no longer available” for a variety of reasons.
These bits are so strong that one wishes that part of the story could have included brief tours of some of the more oddball possibilities, but at least these signs and sales pitches offer a variety of chuckles.
And while early sections are played for laughs, the concept itself is also a strong one.
Larry and Joan squabble a fair bit, enough to make Luke appear like a viable option. He and Joan were truly in love and only had a short spell together.
His heroism and desire to take a job at the hotel in order to wait so long for his true love does make it a difficult and interesting decision. Even the afterlife coordinators are impressed with Luke, leading to many humorous comments that frustrate the already cantankerous Larry. It definitely adds some tension to the story as the two men vie for her attention. The film also wrings some drama out of the situation with a magical theater where characters can return to their past lives and witness highlights with loved ones.
Much of the movie does impress, although it isn’t without a few minor hitches. While the younger version of the leads speak slowly at times and make a joke or two about being more physically able than they used to be, one never quite buys the fact that they are 80-plus year olds in 30-something bodies. But at least the cast members are charming enough that one is willing to overlook this fact.
Additionally, the later portions of the movie are slower, to the point where the final act feels overly drawn out. Once the audience realizes what Joan’s final decision will be, it takes longer than expected for her to express herself, and the situation to get resolved and lead her to the perfect eternity.
There is another movie from 1991 with a similar concept called Defending Your Life that, honestly, is sharper. This effort has its nuisances, but there are enough laughs and chemistry between the stars to make it enjoyable. For those looking for an effective romantic comedy, Eternity is a fresh option that ends up providing a fine time at the theater.
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