Eternity joins a long line of afterlife comedies that treat purgatory like a business conference and death’s final door as a place that requires some existential truths to unlock. While this interpretation of the great beyond is not as grand in its philosophical prowess, it does have a charm for staging a love triangle with higher stakes. It’s a romantic comedy that can take on a different dynamic when there’s a no-backsies rule in play.

Larry Cutler (Miles Teller) is in a unique situation, having died an old man and turned up in purgatory as his younger self. As informed by his quirky afterlife coordinator, Anna (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), he has to decide on where he wants to spend his eternity. There’s no judgment to face or sins to tally when presented with this option, which is a relief to someone like Larry and probably aggravating to someone who spent their whole life hoping their morality would warrant a prize. The film takes its time to find the humor in how eternities are pitched more like travel packages, promoting eternities like 1930s Germany without the Nazis and smokers’ heaven without the cancer.

Hoping to spend his eternity with his wife, Larry decides to wait for his steadfast love, Joan, who shows up a few days later as her younger self, played by Elizabeth Olsen. But another person is waiting for Joan when she arrives: Luke (Callum Turner), who was Joan’s first love and died during the Korean War many decades ago. Now unsure of which man to choose for her own eternity, Joan must choose between two men she has very different perceptions of, even if both of them are young enough to seem like attractive options.

It might dismay some that a film like this doesn’t delve too deeply into its afterlife bureaucracy, choosing to keep its presentation to a few hotel-style interiors, some salesman punchlines, and quick-and-easy responses to the question of whether there’s a God. Director and co-writer David Freyne makes the smart call of getting in the best jokes before shifting towards the more familiar grounding of a love triangle. The trio is firmly in their element with Teller as an anxious underdog, Turner a handsome man bitter about a lifetime denied, and Olsen a flustered mess of choosing between two lovers she never thought would cross paths. There’s enough time spent with all of them to be as engaged in the affair as Joan’s excited agent (John Early), salivating for some gossip.

Eternity is a light-hearted yet thematically heavy romance about the wait for love and where it will take us beyond our mortality. It’s clever in its presentation, with the quirks of Defending Your Life, yet emotionally digestible with a heavenly romance like Here Comes Mr. Jordan. It’s easy to fall in love, where the complex questioning of affairs over time means far more than trying to figure out which hotel most closely resembles purgatory.

Not available on any streaming platforms.

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