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)
Will Smith演得确实不错，但作为一部将近两个半小时的电影高光点并不足，像Queen之前的传记片一样把重点放到了本来就有全面纪录的赛场上。
哭着干完这碗鸡汤😂从黑帮贫民窟一路闯出来太艰难了……Will Smith演得不错，让人既叹服又咬牙，好在最后学会了让步与倾听。跟妻子吵架这段台词很到位，反映了太多男人的缺点。
体育运动之所以能风靡全球，是因为它本身包含了很多人类共通的美好品质。一个女子网坛历史前三和一个前十选手的传记电影，最后提炼出来的只有肤色....格局还是笑了。
国王，有打造大美江山的能力，也有太不温善的专制和独裁。传记电影的价值远远不在人物本身，这部片子做到了。不能说是家庭教育教科书，至少要学习他对尊严、理想的解构，以及运筹帷幄的能力。
用既有的现实把开头的台词都变成“爽片”式打脸，再以一场著名的失败作结。剧作上对父亲的过分聚焦则让大小威的传奇完全变成了一个天赋决定论的成功学故事，主角本身前后矛盾的行为也被强行美化，这么一群难以捉摸的纸片人物（这两个词组似乎有点矛盾）一来二去，只让人觉得大小威这么打网球还真挺憋屈的。
成功了，他就是国王；不成功的话，他只是个倔强的疯子……
有点像摔跤吧爸爸。父亲的角色是复杂的。大威小威的传奇倒是有点吸引我。缺点，太长了，本来100分钟左右就可以讲完的，以及作为一部体育电影还是缺少了一点燃的味道吧。
一般吧，没啥大意思。对比《摔跤吧，爸爸》还是弱了一些。金球奖提名主要是因为政治正确搞怕了。
人真的照顾身边每一个人情绪但是却克制自己情绪地去生活吗？
父王自有妙计。拍的是结果论倒推，顺风顺水。我喜欢败局收场，不喜欢夹道欢迎，也不喜欢字幕卡升华。
6.9 演得都很好，但传记片的重点不清，想要两头抓，结果两头都不够下狠手，浅尝则止的简单的拍了个运动剧情片。
并不熟悉原型故事，也未对运动有足够的了解；所以不会有先入为主的比照，而是用看「家庭教育故事」的态度去进入。无论是找对状态的Will Smith，还是协同Aunjanue Ellis和小演员们彼此成就的自然火花，更或是以Jon Bernthal为首的几位好戏之人加入的辅助性点缀；电影受益于这些演员的发挥和对角色的洞察，完成了足够符合想象、平稳水准的冲奖传记“设定”。不计较篇幅的几个重要节点的呈现，在精良技术的打包下，呈现得到了足够的还原；但问题是近来各种越发放飞的片长让电影略显臃肿，并且情节始终只是重复的反抗与坚持。大胆点的作者与剧本，或许还能将观察延伸到运动本身，加注生态图景的勾勒；这里没有，也就只能靠Beyoncé压阵，用歌声唱出能量与致敬了。
孩子生来是恶是善暂时不考虑，但有一点，就像电影里说的，孩子可以自由地思考而大人的思考则是有局限的。
Why are you alone? I mean, who cares? 怎么会有这么迷人的电影
美国电影学会AFI公布的2021年度十佳电影（排名不分先后）：《健听女孩》《倒数时刻》《沙丘》《犬之力》《国王理查德》《不要抬头》《西区故事》《玉面情魔》《甘草比萨》《麦克白的悲剧》，特别奖：《灵魂乐之夏》《贝尔法斯特》。—— 开头让我联想到《当幸福来敲门》的感觉，而后的故事则有点网球版《摔跤吧！爸爸》的感觉，不过《国王理查德》拍得有些真实生活日常化，因而于我而言还是不够跌宕起伏、精彩纷呈。
这种电影就是好莱坞把最擅长的东西拿出来，真人真事，体育励志，家庭温情，成长走心，你就妥妥坐在座位上，跟着哭跟着笑，舒畅痛快地看电影就得了。各方面都是高分，威尔史密斯演技巅峰，不只是个网坛虎爹，人物本身有很多维度与复杂性，之前提名过两回奥斯卡最佳男主，这次看样子不拿奖都不行了。妈妈的角色塑造得也好，分庭抗礼，有几场戏能感觉到她才是整个家的核心。两个女孩更好！（其实他们家是有五个女儿，额滴神啊）好几场戏都相当震撼人心，比如他们一家人第一次走进满是白人的青少年网球比赛场地，Venus像一头野生小兽，大tee运动棉短裤扛着球拍，沉默地穿过那些身着漂亮网球裙，金发马尾巴的少女们。一拍挥过去，从银幕深处扑面而来的力量与速度，明日女王大杀四方，但她也只是14岁小孩。颁奖季来了，看点好的。
和芬奇很类似，都是老戏骨稳扎稳打的影片，因此虽然算不上惊喜，至少也算是精彩。
第二个教练我曾一度以为他是个冤大头 anyway fine movie 无惊无喜
这是恐怖片，类型写着传记，实际是粉饰和吹捧，现实中极度功利的鸡娃人渣，和这片儿的父亲不是一回事。这种东西看多了会影响大脑认知，远离爹味！
他让我想起了几年前桑德拉·布洛克的《弱点》，当年奥斯卡女主给了她！这一次威尔·史密斯很像。 父亲多么专横，暂且不说。反正没有这父亲，不能有现在的大威、小威！政治与种族是父亲的恐惧，让姑娘们学着强大，也没毛病。 但影片160分钟真是又臭又长，少40分钟是可以的。观者不需要每一步都了解，仿佛在窥探你的生活。就这么个传记故事，仅此而已！
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