"Eternity doesn't rank among them, though director David Freyne and his co-writer Pat Cunnane deserve some credit for setting their sights so high. They have built an entire vision of the afterlife to serve as the setting for their otherwise modest romantic comedy. Okay, some credit ... and maybe also some blame. The beyond that they've conjured up is so ridiculously specific that we can't help but start poking holes in it."
"This so-called Junction is something like a giant convention hall, with alternate worlds being advertised in booths and on walls. There's Nudist World, Mountain World, Studio 54 World, Smoker's World (because cigarettes can't kill you twice), and Man-Free World (now at full occupancy), among many others. (One of the pleasures of the film is clocking all the many diverse futures on display.)"
"When Larry Cutler (Miles Teller) arrives, he's hesitant to pick a fate. Though he's preceded his beloved wife, Joan, in death, she was also terminally ill, and he doesn't think she'll be too long in coming; you're allowed to bring your loved one along to whichever world you choose, but neither you nor they can go back and change a decision once it's been made. If that sounds unnecessarily restrictive for an infinite future of supposed bliss, well, take it up with the screenwriters."
Eternity is set in an afterlife Junction where the newly dead must choose how to spend eternity, guided by afterlife coordinators. The Junction resembles a giant convention hall advertising alternate worlds such as Nudist World, Mountain World, Studio 54 World, Smoker's World, and Man-Free World. Larry Cutler (Miles Teller) hesitates to choose because his terminally ill wife Joan might arrive soon and decisions cannot be changed. Joan (Elizabeth Olsen) arrives, and the bartender Luke (Callum Turner) turns out to be her long-lost first husband. The film's detailed worldbuilding is imaginative but its strict rules and specificity invite skepticism and undermine its romantic comedy modesty.
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