Eternity - Sophie's Choice in Heaven

There was one part of the movie I didn't really like and it was, sadly, the lynchpin in the whole plot. The concept itself of Eternity. In this world, when you die you head to Heaven or Eternity through a train station...classic.

You then get paired with an Afterlife Consultant (AC) that tells you that you have a week to pick your eternity or you head to the lower decks and get to work there until you pick something. Once you pick it, that's it. That is your afterlife until the end of Eternity. No switching. No changing. No sampling. You try to leave one, you get put into the Void...absolute nothingness for all eternity.

Didn't care for this concept. If Heaven in The Good Place taught us anything is people can get bored with their perfect eternity. It's the Afterlife, should get to bounce around when you get tired of one, but that wouldn't work for what the core of the movie is about. Picking the eternity you want with one of your two husbands.

Larry Cutler is Joan's husband for 65 years. At a gender reveal party, he chokes and dies on a pretzel and enters the Afterlife. His wife, Joan, has cancer and will be joining him soon (sooner than he thinks). As he's heading to set up their Eternity in a beach Eternity, he sees her coming up the escalator and goes to her.

T'would think its a good thing. EXCEPT she's been married before. She had a handsome, suave, soldier husband who died in 'the war'...Korea to be specific. He's been waiting, working as a bartender in the afterlife, until she showed up.

It's a battle of the husbands because she can only have one Eternity. Does she go with her first husband where she had the most chemistry and was her first love? Or the man she fell in love with after and had a life with? Children. Family. 65 years of happiness.

Given the strange nature, she's allowed to try out both Eternities with both husbands and its her choice after that.

The situation reminds me of my dear departed Grandma Mary. She was married and had three kids. My mom was a little kid when he tragically died in an accident. She remarried and had three kids and a long happy marriage with my Grandpa Emory. They've all since passed, her in 2020.

I know that Heaven isn't like the one depicted here, but can't help but wonder what happens up there in those situations in a comedic angle. I'm not going to get into my view of Heaven or Afterlife. Some people believe it, some don't, that's not the point of this review. It's the movie.

So, the center of the movie is her trying to pick between her first husband Luke or her long-time love Larry. Both Afterlife Consultants rooting for their people. Larry's for him and Joan, Joan's rooting for Luke cause of how long he waited for her.

Afterlife Consultants - Ryan and Anna

Elizabeth Olsen is quite charming as Joan and you really feel for the decision she has to make. It feels impossible, but when you break it right down to its core, it really is the easiest decision she has to make.

Miles Teller as Larry can be a bit much. He was cranky (understandably so) and felt like he was trying way too hard. Given that her former love was practically Captain America compared to him, he just really wanted to win. They both did, but Callum Turner as Luke just too perfect, even though he wasn't.

There's a thing in the Eternities, a tunnel that allows you to view moments in your life. Luke takes her through there moments. Larry declines and just wants to start their eternity with each other.

A decision is made, but not by who you would think.

At its center, its about love. Different kinds of love. First Love. True Love. Soul Mate Love. If you were in the same situation, who would you pick? Which life would you want for Eternity? The person you had an entire life with or the one who died before you could have the long happy life.

This wasn't a popcorn movie. It was a rom com, but light on the comedy. I wasn't laughing often, just a chuckle now and again. Chop full of the rom though. You wanted Joan to be happy. Whether she picks one or the other, or chooses neither by picking herself.

I enjoyed the characters. The story was solid and portrayed a very hard decision Joan had to make in what's supposed to be a happy eternity. Elizabeth Olsen is never not extraordinary in her roles. Miles brought the awkwardness and try-hard as a husband who wants to continue his life with the woman who is everything to him.

It did feel a little long. It probably could have been trimmed down a little bit. It didn't need to be two hours. The decision making seemed to go on for all the some time.

That said, I did like how it ended. When you think its over, it isn't. The true ending works for the story and end just as it should. As to what that ending is?

Watch it and see for yourself. It may not be a movie worthy of multiple watches, but worth one or two watches. It makes you think and wonder that inevitable question we all ask at least once in our lives.

What comes after I die?

3/5