Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me; the carriage held but just ourselves and immortality” – Emily Dickinson
If Death took a holiday, the guns would go silent in Iraq, the slaughter on our nation’s highways would cease, and the news media would be compelled to cover positive events in the humanities, arts, and sciences. Unfortunately, Death has not had a vacation in recorded history, but Mitchell Leisen’s 1934 fantasy, Death Takes a Holiday, allows us to consider the possibility. Co-written by Maxwell Anderson and Gladys Lehman and based on the play "La Morte in Vacanza" by Alberto Casella, Death Takes a Holiday stars Frederic March as the Grim Reaper who takes on human form in an attempt to discover why men fear him so much. Why he has waited 5,000 years to satisfy this curiosity is not explained.
[Spoiler] After a brief tryout as a shadowy figure who scares the daylights out of those that cross his path, Death shows up at, of all places, an upscale party at an Italian villa, posing as the mysterious Prince Sirki. Only one person knows who he really is, the host Duke Lambert (Guy Standing), and he is sworn to secrecy. Sirki proceeds to fascinate the guests. Given to bursts of wit and poetry, he can just as quickly turn sullen and threatening, and some soon find out that it is better not to look too deeply into his eyes. During the three days in which the Prince is at the villa, however, people all over the world miraculously escape death and potential suicides are doomed to frustration.
To see what’s behind all the conversation about love, the suave but naïve Prince Sirki falls for the irresistible Grazia (Evelyn Venable), the daughter of one of Duke’s friends. Grazia knows who Death is but does not fear him, much to the chagrin of her fiancé, Corrado (Kent Taylor) who has developed a strong disdain for Prince Charming.
More sinister than Brad Pitt in the 1998 remake Meet Joe Black, March turns in a very convincing performance as the creepy yet strangely appealing guest. Although the ending is melodramatic, the emotions are very real and the suggestion that Death may in reality be a friend disguised as a foe is quite touching.
(Howard Schumann, talkingpix.co.uk)
In this wearisome and predictable plot line, Death falls in love and bores us to death talking about it.
(Dennis Schwartz, homepages.sover.net)
I've heard DRACULA was advertised with the tag line "The Weirdest Love Story ever told!" (this is probably a paraphrase), but at heart, I've never felt that you could honestly call that movie a love story. The tag line would be much more appropriate for this one, since it ultimately boils down to what amounts to a love story. This movie is very good indeed, particularly if you consider that it is built around a concept that could have easily been handled in a cute or facile manner. Instead, it is handled as seriously as possible, with some real thought put into how death would try to come to terms with a life and an outlook that was to that point totally unfamiliar to him; much of the credit does go to Fredric March in the title role. It's quite scary when it needs to be, particularly during the first twenty minutes. From then on, it deals with its themes with subtlety, a quiet wit, an enduring sadness, and an everpresent tension on how Death might react if crossed. It's not perfect; some of the dialogue is self-conscious and artificial, as if the writers knew they were dealing with weighty issues and were trying to be profound. But I am certainly glad they didn't try to turn it into a musical comedy of sorts.
(Dave Sindelar, scifilm.org)
See also the remake: Death Takes A Holiday (1971)
终于看了韩寒这部评分很低的作品，其实还不错，有点像是《红气球》的魂以及《无因的反叛》的心，这一部算是韩寒几部电影里最具有电影感的电影了，拍的很散文，所以很多观众接受不了
看得出韩寒就喜欢公路和速度，自己玩的开心。
我们热爱电影 是因为我们可以花费个把钟头 得到无数个生活的可能 看见他们到青春 也看过他们到别离 灯光亮起 电影散场 观众奔赴各自到人生 依然有对生活到憧憬 不是指想从电影中得到嘻嘻哈哈
这次韩寒的冷幽默似乎不再好用，看起来像是拼凑的剧情显得故事很单薄，摩托车还在，小人物打工奋斗还在，内容没了。
韩导彻底摆烂，也罢
没那么好 也没那么差。可能我的新年一直都不怎么喜庆热闹，和男朋友一起看这么个片子也不觉着有什么不妥。他倒是以为“很搞笑”去看了，结果是部有点割裂的文艺片。所以可以说是有点土嗨又有点丧的小作文。
哎！真有点儿看不下去啊！万子哥竟然配音，有没有搞错啊！ 分两次还没看完，看完再说吧！ 看完了，真的是一言难尽啊！
海岛、赛摩托、酒吧、高利贷、打工人，韩寒总能抓住引起议题的元素收割屌丝的情绪和票房。个人觉得在这部电影只是元素的堆砌，加了太多东西又什么都说不透，看起来就一片苍白。顺口提一句，演员的演技大多不太行
不是因为不喜欢lhc给低分，而是这个电影是真的不太行。韩寒直男癌太严重了吧，拍的电影太不连贯了，是真的老了？没才华了？
韩寒130分钟的顾影自怜。剪辑什么玩意儿。
而且最致命的是犯了一个只会在处女作才会犯的毛病：想讲的太多了——亲情 爱情 城市化 物化 赛车 女性求职 理想与现实……单拿出一个着重讲一下片子就改观很多
这片如果出现在暑假档，可能分数还会高一些，但居然在春节档这个时期，实属不讨喜，要知道大部份中国人不是文青，不是文化人，个人还是喜欢韩少的片子，台词对白听着舒服，虽然除了沈腾，演技都不怎么样，剧情也很俗烂，不过风格还是喜欢的风格，希望韩少以档期和受众为戒，将来出更好的作品吧
看了《麦琪的礼物》才更懂这部电影，在快餐时代，更显得真心可贵，所以是满满的讽刺，很能get到韩导的点，比之前的几部片子要丰富些。这也绝不是青春电影或者摩托题材电影，有点可惜选错了档期
看了十分钟，韩寒拍电影依然属于那种，不是写病句的问题，而是连大字都没认识几个就想写作文级别的渣。
韩寒的前几部电影我都是持肯定态度，这部刚上映时，个人对如潮恶评依然不以为然，总觉得他野蛮生长的路子及浑不吝的姿态总有可取之处。到看后，才发现不太好夸了，问题大概主要是出在抒情上，一是抒情篇幅，较之以往不少反多。二是抒情姿态，中年直男感慨青春疼痛，本身就特别危险，也容易遭受诟病，轻则自恋，重则到意识形态的癌变有毒。
显而易见能看的出韩导的努力，显而易见努力想营造好一个小布尔乔亚式的悲情青春故事，沈腾、尹正的戏份让这个悲情主线有点儿分叉，黄晓明的段子叉的不伦不类，明明相爱非要倔强的独立打拼，非要最后来个静悄悄的琼瑶式车祸，叉的毫无悬念，叉的寡淡无味，可惜了，个人感觉整体不如前几部。
“你跟NM飞越去吧！”
周欢歌死之后，整个剧情就崩坏了。
喜剧？喜剧的成分挺尬的
观众老了，时代老了，韩寒还没有老，他还是那个当年张牙舞爪“七门功课红灯，照亮我的前程”的时代叛逆者，但是这一套似乎不奏效了，感觉怎么都觉得有些刻意，追逐呐喊，追逐自由，但是不灵了啊大作家。现代人被毒打之后，就想过得轻松，越用力越疲惫，想要抓紧却偏偏流走。
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