With his ambitious new film “Eternity”, director David Freyne combines classic screwball comedy with an old-fashioned romance, seasoning it all with a dash of wacky fantasy. He tells a story (co-written by Freyne and Pat Cunnane) that’s so strange on paper it never should work on-screen. Yet the surprisingly sincere and impressively imaginative “Eternity” is considerably more entertaining than you would ever expect it to be.

“Eternity” begins with an elderly husband and wife on their way to a family gender reveal gathering. As they drive, the crusty Larry (Barry Primus) and the needling Joan (Betty Buckley) have all the qualities of a couple who has been married for 65 years. Larry is a bit of a curmudgeon but a very caring one. Meanwhile the opinionated Joan has been diagnosed with terminal cancer – heartbreaking news which they’ve yet to reveal to the kids and grandkids.

But their life together screeches to a halt when Larry chokes to death while at the party. In a snap, he suddenly awakes on a train, now as a much younger get version of himself (played by Miles Teller). When the train stops, Larry and a mass of other people are ushered into a waiting area called “the junction”. There he is instructed to wait for his Afterlife Coordinator. After a lengthy wait he’s finally greeted by his personal AO, Anna (Oscar winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph).

Anna immediately begins explaining things to the understandably confused Larry (and us). We learn Larry is in something resembling Limbo. It’s a depot of sorts where the recently deceased are given seven days to choose their eternal destination out of the many themed eternities offered. There’s an eternity for every taste imaginable – Beach World, Vampire World, Library World, Catholic World, Smoker’s World, Men Free World, and even a world dedicated to Paris in the 1960s. Once a person enters their chosen world they must stay their for eternity. Any attempt at escaping will see them cast into an ominous space called The Void.

As for his younger appearance, Larry is told that after death people revert to the form of their happiest self in life. That’s why days later he is stunned to see a younger Joan (now played by Elizabeth Olsen) fresh off the train and just as confused as Larry was. But their sweet reunion is interrupted by the dashing Luke (Callum Turner), Joan’s first husband and the love of her life before he was killed in the Korean War. Luke reveals he has waited 67 years for Joan to arrive, biding his time as a bartender in the junction.

So Joan is left with an impossible choice. Does she spend eternity with the man she had already built a life with or with the man who died before she was able to? That dilemma forms the crux of “Eternity”. For the most part Freyne keeps things sweet and endearing while also including some nice splashes of humor, mostly during his film’s first half. Yet there is an running undercurrent of heartache that grounds the many emotions surrounding this classic love triangle. And it doesn’t hurt to have such a capable trio as Olsen, Teller, and Turner anchoring things.

When it comes to world-building, “Eternity” plucks ideas from agnosticism, universalism, and Christian eschatology to create an equally interesting and imaginative fantasy setting. As for the story, you’ll find it easy to spot the cracks if you give it too much thought. But if you let the movie operate on its own terms, you’ll have a hard time denying its beguiling charm, admirable sincerity, well-struck comic beats, and welcomed originality. What can I say, I certainly found myself under its spell.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS