Eternity Doesn’t Last Forever, Thankfully

Eternity

★ ★

Eternity takes a comedic, alternate look at the afterlife, in which the newly dead are transported to a large city where they’re given seven days to decide what “eternity” they want to live in forever. They’re given “afterlife coordinators,” AC’s for short, whose jobs are to help people pick where they’re going to go. This is a place where brochures are handed out and salespeople pitch their eternity in booths within the main lobbies of apartment buildings. There are practically an eternity’s worth of eternity options: yacht world, mountain world, man-free world, cowboy world and even nudist world. Why no one would instantly flock to the best eternity concept, food world, is beyond me.

Elderly couple Larry (Barry Primus) and Joan (Betty Buckley) are heading to their pregnant granddaughter’s gender reveal party. Larry’s become a bit cynical in his old age, complaining about nearly everything. Joan is more happy-go-lucky. The bickering comes with the territory after 60 years together. They’re also discussing their next vacation—to a sunny beach or snowy mountains. Larry’s pushing hard for the beach.

Miles Teller as Larry and Elizabeth Olsen as Joan
© 2025 A24

At the party, Larry chokes on a pretzel, a running gag in this film, when he’s shown a picture of Joan’s first husband who died in the Korean War while they were still newlyweds.

So Larry dies and awakens as a much younger version of himself (Miles Teller) on a train. He arrives at the station confused as hell, trying to make sense of his surroundings. Everything is explained to him by his coordinator Anna (Da’Vine Joy Randolph). He has to pick an afterlife within seven days or he’ll have to find a job in the city until he picks his final destination.

Elizabeth Olsen as Joan
© 2025 A24

Larry wants to wait for Joan but is convinced to pick a place she’ll want to go to so he chooses “beach world.” On his way to the train that will take him there, he sees younger Joan (Elizabeth Olsen). It would seem that Larry and Joan would be destined to pick an eternity together but her coordinator Ryan (John Early) has other plans for her. Joan’s first husband Luke (Callum Turner) never picked an eternity. He’s been waiting for Joan for 67 years.

The conflict writes itself: who does Joan choose? Her husband of six decades or the man who’s been waiting for her for those same decades? But the film manages to drop the ball, never settling into a cohesive genre. The script sticks with goofy gimmicks and routine dialogue, occasionally funny and sometimes dramatic. By the time we reach a dramatic conclusion, one that should stretch and test our heartstrings, we’re numb because the story meanders within its own plot, never landing on a clear theme.

Elizabeth Olsen as Joan and Callum Turner as Lluke
© 2025 A24

Both Teller and Early fail to develop solid chemistry with Olsen, whose only purpose in the afterlife is to pick which man she’s going to live with forever. It’s a decision that feels like an eternity for her to make. But she flip-flops because the screenplay tells her to.

A film like this feels like a waste of Teller’s talents. His career-making performance as a jazz drummer in a brutal music conservatory in Whiplash was raw and visceral. Olsen also has far greater range than she’s given to work with here.

It’s a film lost in gimmicks, running gags of different eternity types as a backdrop to the story. The gags get old and the comedy rarely connects. By the time we reach the dramatic apex, we should feel something profound—but the only insight we’re given is how astoundingly long it takes for us to get there.

Eternity could have been more of a fun ride, but it’s hampered by its inability to choose a lane. The potential as a romantic comedy—something woefully lacking in today’s cinema—feels like a missed opportunity for the ages. The ride between opening and closing credits felt like it took forever, with kids in the backseat repetitively asking “are we there yet?” When the final credits rolled, I was thankful this was not an eternity I chose.