Absolutely loved the movie until *spoilers*…
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DnB614 — 12 years ago(April 15, 2013 10:12 AM)
I agree, I think it should have ended with Joe & Bill just walking over the bridge as well. Would have been perfect. It felt like they handed in the finished script and then some Hollywood executive came along and said the ending needed to be more upbeat.
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musicalfreakgurl — 12 years ago(April 20, 2013 10:30 AM)
I was wondering about the endings self. When she asked him where her father was and his was "I don't know, it's all kind off blurred up and hazy. But do you know what I'm mean if I said I'll never figure it out?" I was a bit confused after that until I Realized he probably lost his memory somehow.
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swc11-48-550133 — 11 years ago(June 23, 2014 02:03 PM)
I don't view it as a Hollywood ending as much as Death has had a slight change of character since he first arrived. At first he just wants a holiday and so he kills someone without thinking about it but as the movie progresses he becomes a little more humane. He is given peanut butter by people who aren't doing it just because they are staff; he sees that he took the Coffee Shop guy from Susan and that it wasn't just a body; he stops the suffering of the lady in the Hospital even though he says thats not his job and numerous other events and I feel that letting Susan be with the Coffee Shop guy was almost a sign of respect back to her after he got to experience the Holiday. It might also be a dig at Drew who was an a** to everyone, especially Death.
What you say in public is what you want people to hear; what you say in private shows who you are. -
paramitch — 11 years ago(July 19, 2014 08:57 AM)
I didn't mind the "coffee shop" guy returning because Joe made it clear right away that he had taken an "unscheduled life" (who happened to be coffee shop guy) in order to become human and take his 'human' vacation.
So for me the ending is very symmetrical Death isn't actually wrapping things up nicely, he's returning them to where they were meant to be. He interrupted the natural order by killing Coffee Shop Joe (and interrupting his immediate connection with Susan). So it works for me that he brings the guy back it's fair (the poor guy deserved the life he had left) and at least it leaves us with something for Susan.
As far as the coffee guy not being more confused, I simply assumed Death had taken care of that and brought him back with a certain amount of acceptance of wherever he found himself.
The interesting thing is, upon rewatch, to me Joe is never quite as charming or cool as the guy she met in the coffee shop, so I was happy she ended up with him again. That initial coffee shop scene between the two of them is just terrific and manages to show you that they've just had this big thing happen for each other in just minutes.I keep thinking I'm a grownup, but I'm not. -
Silverandwhite — 10 years ago(May 19, 2015 07:48 AM)
I completely agree with you paramitch . The Coffee Shop scene and the guy Susan met there are important to the story , so in the end they come back, lets say, because Death promises Susan that she would have what she found in the Coffee Shop. That scene and the way the guy is portrayed by Brad are wonderful. The ending is perfect because it also makes you see that Life is worth living and this is true even for Death, who almost cries.The guy comes back, fresh and charming and some of the things he says refer to previous moments between Susan and Death, but now its the guy who says them , he is confused but he says exactly what he has to say because Death is aware that Susan loves him. I think that Death adds something to the guy of the Coffee Shop. Every time I watch this film I like it very much, a wonderful story about love, life, values.
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paramitch — 9 years ago(November 12, 2016 09:58 AM)
Thanks so much! Both give a kind of nice eternal neverending circular feel to the action. Susan and Joe are meant to be, no matter what. Death ensures that even in the end. Etc.
I keep thinking I'm a grownup, but I'm not. -
svetiev_b — 10 years ago(May 07, 2015 04:20 PM)
You make an excellent point and I agree with you. But there is one need for that last scene and it is to show that Susan finally gets her self to accept and realize who Joe Black really is. Something she didn't manage when Joe was kissing her goodbye at the party. It was a corny moment but it had meaning and ties to this particular aspect of the story.
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Editor_Mandy — 10 years ago(September 27, 2015 06:25 PM)
I agree that the ending is just not all that right.
Because he was in love with her, he gave her the gift of finding out how things would be with the man she fell in love with at first sight in the coffee shop.
Death takes away. It's his jobbut at this moment he gave becuase he was in love.
That I can wrap my brain around and even think it's a powerful ending. There's just those few moments where Joe himself comes back totally confused. They needed to sort it out better. They could have had Joe show up in the coffee shop again, so Joe didn't think anything happened and while she may have there wouldn't have been the awkward meeting of everyone at the party he is already supposed to know.
Or the ruse he was involved in to save her father's empirehow was he to deal with all of this? It took away from the magic of a movie I still love.it just didn't turn out the way it should have. The way it could have.