Eternity
November 20th, 2025
MOVIE: ETERNITY
STARRING: ELIZABETH OLSEN, MILES TELLER, CALLUM TURNER, DA’VINE JOY RANDOLPH, JOHN EARLY
DIRECTED BY: DAVID FREYNE
AMovieGuy.com’s RATING: 3 ½ STARS (Out of 4)
RATED: PG-13
RUN TIME: 102 MINUTES
We all hope that, when we die, we go somewhere good. Whether it’s heaven, Valhalla, paradise, or something else entirely, we imagine a peaceful existence. David Freyne’s Eternity asks a more complicated, bittersweet question: what happens if you reach the afterlife and must choose between a love lost and a love that lasted? Can anyone truly decide between the life they built and the life they missed? It’s a premise that yields a funny, thoughtful, and unexpectedly heartwarming film, one that makes Eternity a delightful new rom-com worth spending forever with.
The story begins in the present, with Joan (Betty Buckley) and her husband Larry (Barry Primus) on their way to visit their family. Their car-ride chatter- retirement communities, Joan’s cancer battle, complaints about bad drivers- feels lived-in and familiar. Then, suddenly, Larry chokes on a pretzel and finds himself in a kind of celestial terminal: a transit hub where souls choose their afterlife.
In this new in-between, we meet Larry again, this time in his younger body, played by Miles Teller. He’s greeted by his Afterlife Coordinator, Anna (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), who walks him through the choosing process. He settles in, strikes up a rapport with a kind bartender named Luke (Callum Turner), and waits anxiously for Joan, knowing she’s been sick. When Joan (Elizabeth Olsen) eventually arrives, the film’s emotional core snaps into focus: Luke, it turns out, was her first husband, lost in the Korean War, while Larry was her partner for five decades. Now Joan must choose whom to spend eternity with- and that decision is no easier for the dead than it would be for the living.
It’s impossible not to think of Albert Brooks’s Defending Your Life while watching Eternity. Both films imagine an afterlife that resembles an airport, complete with museum-like memory experiences that allow the couple to revisit their past. Freyne and co-writer Patrick Cunnane smartly use witty dialogue and gentle humor to explore the complexities of long-term love and unresolved grief. The film also charms through its whimsical array of “Eternities”: a world with no men, an all-sports-all-the-time universe, a Rocky Mountain idyll, and a perpetual beach day, among others. The joy lies in watching the characters wrestle with choice, identity, and the ache of what-ifs.
Performance-wise, the standouts are Olsen and Randolph. Olsen brings nuance to Joan’s impossible dilemma, while Randolph steals scenes with warmth and comic precision. Teller shines as a man who, by conventional measures, never achieved much but created a life built on stability, affection, and care. Eternity is at its strongest when examining what makes a “good marriage”- its imperfect rhythms, its challenges, and its quiet triumphs. If the film falters, it’s in Freyne’s occasional reluctance to commit fully to a choice, resulting in some narrative hedging.
Still, at its heart, Eternity evokes the charm of old Hollywood fantasies, such as Harvey, It’s a Wonderful Life, and The Bishop’s Wife– films that ask us to laugh at life’s absurdities while nudging us to reflect on our own paths, the choices made and unmade. Eternity feels like the kind of movie Hollywood once excelled at: heartfelt, whimsical, and timeless. Or perhaps it really does last an eternity.
3 ½ STARS
ETERNITY IS NOW PLAYING IN THEATERS EVERYWHERE.
Written by: Leo Brady
