Screens

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Big ideas deserve bold execution. Eternity is built on a HUGE idea but realized with disappointingly little ambition.
The movie asks a question most religious folks wisely avoid: if there’s an eternal afterlife where you’re reunited with loved ones, and you were a widower who remarried… what the fuck happens then?

Religion loves binaries: good/bad, heaven/hell. Old Testament types think “good” means staying celibate forever, even if your spouse died of the plague when you were 16. The New Testament’s God 2.0 loosened up a little, smoked a J with Jesus, and said, “You know what? That’s dumb as hell.” That’s where “’til death do us part” comes in. You’re monogamous until you get run over by an ox cart or a Waymo or whatever. After that? You’re single and ready to mingle.

Whether rooted in religion, philosophy, or just keepin’ it real, this simple question is guaranteed to make people ask themselves, “What would I do?” It’s relatable. It’s provocative. It’s pure gold. Because of that — and because there’s no easy answer — the trailer should do all the heavy lifting. And yeah, Eternity’s trailer delivers. I’ve seen it a dozen times in theaters, and every audience gasped and chuckled right on cue.

Elizabeth Olsen plays Joan, reunited in the afterlife with two dead husbands: Larry (Miles Teller) and Luke (Callum Turner). 
The movie keeps telling us that Luke is “perfect,” but he’s kind of a dick and he’s prone to outbursts that feel a little unhinged. Over the course of, oh, I don’t know, eternity, you could totally see those outbursts turning violent. Or am I the only one seeing this? Meanwhile, Larry’s like the guy in a job interview who says his biggest weakness is that he cares too much — except it’s true. You’re hired, Miles.

We’re introduced to the afterlife through Larry, so he becomes our point-of-view character. By the time Joan kicks the bucket, she feels more like an obstacle than a protagonist. If they had flipped that, she may have felt more relatable and her deliberation might’ve actually felt suspenseful. Instead, we’re just waiting for her to arrive at an obvious conclusion after torturing poor Larry… which makes her kinda the villain. Am I wrong here? It’s possible I relate more to the dude because I am a dude, but I don’t think so.