3.5/5
Review by John P. Harvey.
Upon his accidental death, Larry (Barry Primus) finds himself in the afterlife, now in a younger body (Miles Teller) with his age rewound to the happiest period of his life, when he was first married to Joan (Betty Buckley), who shortly afterward also finds herself there in her own younger body (Elizabeth Olsen).
This afterlife is merely a prelude to the eternity of one’s choice, and Joan’s choice of an eternity with Larry is easy. That is, until Joan finds that her first husband, Luke (Callum Turner), has been awaiting her there too, for 57 years, in order to choose the (after)life with her that was cut short by his early death.
So Larry has a competitor, and Joan has a difficult choice to make. She loved both husbands dearly, and both love her passionately. The choice is impossible.
And it’s not as though Joan’s choice of eternities is reversible; in fact, anyone caught attempting to leave his or her chosen eternity is in dire straits.
Eternity dramatically and comically pulls the rug out from under any simple ideal of a heavenly afterlife. Essentially, though, this A24 movie is about how three closely connected characters go about balancing desire and self-fulfilment against generosity and integrity. When the humour and the tension are said and done, it’s in these struggles that the movie’s payoff ultimately lies. Acted with finesse and set in an imaginative afterlife world, the story is both engaging and entertaining.