From the second I saw the first trailer for Eternity, I knew I had to see it. Not even just for the story, which seemed like a classic romcom. But mostly for the whimsical, colorful aesthetic. It’s been a minute since the visual palette of a movie has been unique enough to draw me in. And it’s not just the color scheme of Eternity that makes it stand out. The film creates an entirely new world. But for a romcom narrative, not a fantasy tale. What I’m trying to say is that a high-concept, wholly original, mainstream film that isn’t predicated on creating a franchise is a rare find these days. I’ve spent many a blog post begging Hollywood to prioritize new ideas instead of squeezing every last drop out of existing ones. Eternity is exactly what I’ve been asking for. No, that doesn’t mean it’s a perfect movie. But it’s a really good shot that I greatly enjoyed.

There are two main parts to the story within Eternity. When I said in my release radar it looked like a cross between Taylor Jenkins Reid’s One True Loves and Defending Your Life, I didn’t realize how accurate that comparison really was. Some of it plays like a classic romcom. Joan (Elizabeth Olsen) has to choose between two different men that she loves. Her first husband, Luke (Callum Turner), a soldier who was killed in Korea only two years into their marriage, or her second husband of 65 years, Larry (Miles Teller), with whom she had children and grandchildren. That’s the One True Loves side. Do you pick your first love that you never got a chance to see through? Or do you pick the love that put you back together after your heart was broken and that you built a new life with? If that wasn’t complicated enough, the Defending Your Life element comes in on top of that with the setting. The catch is that everyone in this story is dead. In this world (and maybe in ours, who’s to say?), when you die, you arrive at a train station-esque limbo between mortality and immortality. There you must decide where you want to spend the rest of your afterlife, your eternity. The options are endless: Beach World (for sun and sand enthusiasts), Wall Street World (where one can be an 80s big shot making millions), The Pearly Gates (a traditional religious afterlife), Cowboy World (western-themed), Infantilization Land (a never-ending childhood with assigned parents), Man-Free World (sounds appealing!), Monastery World (a place for a quiet, monk-like existence), Alpine World (for a life in the mountains), Nudist World (clothing optional), Paris World (perpetually Paris in the 1960s, with everyone speaking English in a French accent), Smokers’ World (“‘Cause cancer can’t kill you twice”), Space World (for astronomy enthusiasts), Spice World (like the Spice Girls), Studio 54 World (a 1970s nightlife haven of champagne, drugs, and sex without the health consequences), Weimar World (a 1920s Berlin-themed world with the specific constraint of “no Nazis!”), Wizard World (a place of magic and fantasy… actually I think we have this one on Earth at Universal Studios), Yachting World (where one can travel endlessly on a private yacht), and so on and so forth. Basically anything you can think of, there’s an eternity for that. However, once you choose an eternity, you can’t go back. No changing your mind or trying to get out. “Hell for indecisive people” someone called it. Otherwise you’ll end up in The Void, the closest thing they have to actual hell, which is just eternal nothingness. 

So Joan has a lot of big decisions to make. Which eternity will she choose and with whom does she want to spend it? The good news, but also the bad news, is that it seems like there’s no wrong choice. Luke spent 67 years waiting for Joan to arrive. He’s handsome and smooth and there’s nothing like the youthful spark of your first love. But Larry and Joan spent 65 years in love. He’s kind and caring and comfortable. Unlike some love triangles, like The Summer I Turned Pretty most recently, there is no obvious answer. And the movie isn’t trying to sway audiences to root for one or the other, despite spending the most time with Larry. I really wasn’t sure which way Joan would go (even though I should have considering the similarities with One True Loves). The movie also works to keep you guessing well into the final act, which both upped the suspense and caused some drag. There were multiple moments that I thought were the end, but then it kept going and started to get a little repetitive. Luckily, the cast was so great I almost didn’t mind spending a little extra time with them. Elizabeth Olsen is fantastic in everything she does and so is Miles Teller, honestly. He was right on the edge of breaking big after Top Gun: Maverick and I’d like to see him doing more and getting back there. I’ve only seen Callum Turner in more dramatic roles but I thought he fit in well to the dashing, perfect guy archetype in a romcom. But the real standouts to me were Da’Vine Joy Randolph and John Early as the ACs (afterlife coordinators), consultants trying to guide their clients to the best possible eternity. This should not be a surprise considering Da’Vine Joy Randolph is literally an Oscar-winning actress. But she brings incredible comic relief as well as real gravitas to this chaotic, dreamscape world. 

If I can get a little existential for a moment, it’s hard to watch this movie and not consider what eternity you would choose in this situation. Not the guy, although, fine, twist my arm, I’m picking Callum Turner but he needs to have the British accent. But I mean which world you would choose to live in forever. What would I want my eternity to be? A permanent beach vacation does sound nice. Or Florence, my favorite place in the world. Maybe somewhere like Lake Como would be great because you could get the best of everything: beautiful coastlines but also mountains and cute little Italian towns. Or what if it was just something simple and cozy? Like a world where I never had to change out of sweatpants and could go to the movies everyday? But would all of that eventually get old? Would it be too much of a good thing? Is a lifetime stuck in heaven actually just hell? Maybe it’s just my fear of commitment and permanence that makes all of this seem like somewhat of a nightmare to me, but it’s an interesting concept to think about. Maybe a good conversation starter, icebreaker, first date topic to keep in your back pocket.

I found Eternity to be really charming and cute and funnier than I was expecting. The humor is clever and witty and the sincere moments have so much heart while all tinged with a bit of melancholy. We are dealing with death after all. But mostly it was so sweet it even brought me to tears a few times. The world felt distinct and lived-in and so imaginative. I really hope we get more movies like this that are original, one-off stories from creative minds starring. They’re not always going to land, but I’d rather have more failures like that than hundred million dollar blockbusters that bomb. Thankfully, Eternity was not a failure. And I would definitely recommend it to the romcom lovers or anyone who is craving something different from the reboot, remake, sequel, prequel cycle we currently live in.

2025 Count: 81 movies, 51 seasons of television, 5 specials