{"id":32548,"date":"2025-11-25T20:34:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T04:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=32548"},"modified":"2025-11-25T20:34:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T04:34:07","slug":"the-rom-com-eternity-provides-a-fine-time-at-the-movies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=32548","title":{"rendered":"The Rom-Com ETERNITY Provides a Fine Time at the Movies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Running Time: 114 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This feature from A24 opens exclusively in theaters on\nNovember 26th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After living a full lifetime with your partner, would you be\nwilling to spend the rest of eternity in the afterlife with them? Or would you\nwant to start anew and rekindle a relationship with a lost love. Generally\nspeaking, that is the question that the new romantic-comedy Eternity <\/em>asks.\nMuch like a few of its characters, the film can be overly ponderous and change\nits mind too frequently, but there are plenty of laughs and warm moments to\nleave a lasting, positive effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Viewers are introduced to bickering but loving couple Larry\n(Barry Primus) and Joan (Betty Buckley). Now in their 80s, the pair head out to\na party and ponder whether to tell their family about a terminal illness. That\nproblem fades to the background when one of them suddenly finds themselves in\nthe afterlife and introduced to Anna (Da\u2019Vine Joy Randolph), an afterlife\ncoordinator. It is explained that, when one dies, they return to their happiest\nself and have a week to choose where to spend eternity. Before long, both\nmembers of the married couple reunite on site, now finding themselves in\nyounger form. Larry (Miles Teller) and Joan (Elizabeth Olsen) are forced to\npick a setting to spend infinity. But it isn\u2019t that simple for Joan. Her lost\nlove and first husband Luke (Callum Turner), who died in the Korean War, has\nbeen waiting for her for some 70 years, wants to reconnect and spend eternity\nwith her. She can only pick one of them, leading to a complicated and difficult\nsituation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The afterlife setting is an amusing one, with Anna and\nfellow afterlife coordinator Ryan (John Early) amusingly explaining the rules,\nwhile also having to contend with questions from the recently deceased that\nthey can\u2019t answer. Another big plus from the screenplay is the setting. It all\nfeels like a travel convention in a hotel, with various billboards offering a\nwide variety of impressive and incredibly eccentric options for the public.\nSome of them are remarkably funny, including a bit in which the coordinators\ntake one of the leads into a room full of areas \u201cno longer available\u201d for a\nvariety of reasons. These bits are so strong that one wishes that part of the\nstory could have included brief tours of some of the more oddball\npossibilities, but at least these signs and sales pitches offer a variety of\nchuckles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And while early sections are played for laughs, the concept\nitself is also a strong one. Larry and Joan squabble a fair bit, enough to make\nLuke appear like a viable option. He and Joan were truly in love and only had a\nshort spell together. His heroism and desire to take a job at the hotel in\norder to wait so long for his true love does make it a difficult and\ninteresting decision. Even the afterlife coordinators are impressed with Luke,\nleading to many humorous comments that frustrate the already cantankerous\nLarry. It definitely adds some tension to the story as the two men vie for her\nattention. The film also wrings some drama out of the situation with a magical\ntheater where characters can return to their past lives and witness highlights\nwith loved ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of the movie does impress, although it isn\u2019t without a\nfew minor hitches. While the younger version of the leads speak slowly at times\nand make a joke or two about being more physically able than they used to be,\none never quite buys the fact that they are 80-plus year olds in 30-something\nbodies. But at least the cast members are charming enough that one is willing\nto overlook this fact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, the later portions of the movie are slower, to\nthe point where the final act feels overly drawn out. Once the audience\nrealizes what Joan\u2019s final decision will be, it takes longer than expected for\nher to express herself, and the situation to get resolved and lead her to the\nperfect eternity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is another movie from 1991 with a similar concept called\nDefending Your Life<\/em> that, honestly, is sharper. This effort has its\nnuisances, but there are enough laughs and chemistry between the stars to make\nit enjoyable. For those looking for an effective romantic comedy, Eternity<\/em>\nis a fresh option that ends up providing a fine time at the theater.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 114 minutes This feature from A24 opens exclusively in theaters on November 26th. 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, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":32549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[216,605,826,2638,3781,4660,5041,6830,7085,7086,7087,7088,10847,13963,17302,17321],"class_list":["post-32548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-216","tag-a24","tag-afterlife","tag-betty-buckley","tag-callum-turner","tag-comedy","tag-davine-joy-randolph","tag-elizabeth-olsen","tag-eternity","tag-eternity-film-review","tag-eternity-movie-review","tag-eternity-review","tag-john-early","tag-miles-teller","tag-rom-com","tag-romantic-comedy"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32548\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}