'Eternity' review: Elizabeth Olsen, Miles Teller shine in afterlife romcom

Talk about a high-concept comedy: In “Eternity,” Elizabeth Olsen plays Joan, a dead woman who arrives at heaven’s waiting area and learns that she must choose whether to spend the afterlife with Larry (Miles Teller), her husband of 65 years, or Luke (Callum Turner), the lost first love who has been patiently waiting for her. It’s a lot of pressure, says Ryan, Joan’s semi-angelic assistant, played by John Early. He adds: “That’s why we usually recommend for you to do you.”

The first thing you might think about this movie is “seen it” – especially if you’re familiar with NBC’s “The Good Place,” Albert Brooks’ classic “Defending Your Life” or any number of comedies that imagine the next world as a maddeningly familiar version of this world. “Eternity” mines the same material: Our characters are all in a holding zone that looks like a mid-1970s airport hotel, and such staffers as Joan’s meddlesome Ryan and Larry’s lackadaisical Anna (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) clearly do not put customer service first. What keeps "Eternity" from feeling like a mere re-hash are its juicy premise, a terrific Olsen in the lead and her two appealing co-stars.

Written by Patrick Cunnane and directed by David Freyne, “Eternity” has one job to do, and does it well: keep us guessing about Joan’s decision. She was first married to the impossibly handsome Luke before he died in the Korean War; doesn’t she deserve to live out the youthful bliss that was taken from her? On the other hand, how can she abandon her faithful husband and father of her children? “I have a better narrative,” Larry insists.

Teller, who excels at playing slippery and selfish types (“Whiplash,” “The Spectacular Now”), is convincing here as a guy with oodles of decency but not much charm. (“Everything works here," he marvels, gesturing to his jeans.) Turner strikes a nice balance between arrogant and vulnerable; we learn more than a few embarrassing secrets about him. But it’s Olsen who carries the movie, her eyes shimmering at all the right moments. “You’re exactly how I dreamt you,” she says, caressing Luke’s face for the first time while poor Larry realizes what he's up against.

One of the movie’s running gags is people’s peculiar taste in paradise: We learn about the regrettable Museum World, the questionable Clown World and the predictably sold-out Man-Free Land. “Eternity” may not be as philosophically probing as it could be (it never asks, as “The Good Place” did, whether there’s anything after the afterlife), but it isn’t trying to get too deep. It's just about a girl, standing in front a boy, forever.

By Rafer Guzmán

rafer.guzman@newsday.com