I’ve only seen the original 181-minute cut of Meet Joe Black. Caught it on the Universal lot. Rough sit. I never saw the 129-minute Alan Smithee version. Has anyone?

Needless to say this Manhattan coffee shop scene between Brad Pitt and Claire Forlani would’ve worked better without the double-hit ragdoll body bounce-flop…really bad CG. Imagine if just after Forlani walks off she hears the screech of tires and vague sounds of commotion, but doesn’t realize Pitt is dead until she reads about it the next day. Maybe a small item-plus-photo in the N.Y. Daily News.

It’s always better if you can nudge the audience into imagining a scene of violence rather than hitting them over the head with it.

BTW: Pitt was no spring chicken when Meet Joe Black was shot in mid to late ’97 (he was 33, had made Se7en three years earlier) but he looks 24 or 25.