Movie Review: The Bucket List (2007, Rob Reiner)

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Cast: Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman, Sean Hayes, Beverly Todd, Rob Morrow
Screenplay: Justin Zackham
97 minutes / Color

Running with the longest 97 minutes of the year, “The Bucket List” was not great, but just okay. Before watching the over-sentimental flick I did not expect anything to be amazing (it was kinda hard knowing that Oscar winners Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman were gonna be in it) and got exactly what I expected to get: a mediocre, boring, much-emoting buddy tale about friendship and life. However, it really wasn’t a bad film. I’m just curious though: why the hell are they campaigning for Oscars?

This is how the story goes: Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) who has been diagnosed with cancer for several years now, goes to the local hospital every once in a while to be treated in an experimental approach to try and push back the cancer process.

In the other hand, we are introduced to multi-millionaire Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson), who owns many hospitals around the country. One day he has made a rule that every room should consist with two beds and two patients. That very same day, he gets diagnosed with cancer too and is roomed with Carter for several months.

When the two learn that they only have six more months to live (hopefully a year), Carter, has an idea to do something his college professor had told him years ago. This was to make something called “The Bucket List”, a list of things that he wants to do before he dies.

When Edward sees the list, he adds on his own personal “crazy” choices to Carter’s reasonable/sentimental choices and says that with his money (and their life span) they can accomplish everything they want to do before they kick the bucket. The two now go on a crazy adventure jumping out of planes, getting tattoos, eating in France, visiting tourist attractions around the world and racing racecars.

When Carter tells Edward that he has to get in contact with his daughter as a number on the list, Edward gets angry and the two friends split their ways, not finishing the list. When Carter’s time comes to die, however, Edward returns as a good friends and decides to finish the last two things on their list before Carter passes way.

After Carter’s funeral, Edward then goes onto meet his daughter and when Edward dies, he has both his and Carter’s ashes be put in earns on top of Mount Everest as the last thing on their Bucket List: Witness something majestic.

As I watched the film, I felt like it was trying to be something more. It seemed like they were trying to get an easy way into popularity because of the big name director and the big name actors. Sadly, for this flick, star power does not improve it at all. As I look back, I even begin considering that it might even be the actor’s who made the movie worse. Not to mention the mediocre screenplay…

The screenplay was nothing special. Half of the movie was just getting to a certain “let’s-go-out-and-do-it” point and the rest of the movie was just crazy/stupid stunts that these people with these ages and conditions shouldn’t even be doing. It was nuts, unrealistic and I hardly enjoyed it. It was just a movie, playing on my screen, not terrible but not interesting.

The two leading men, even though their resumes are filled with extravagant performances in excellent movies, are too disappointing to be true. When it comes to Morgan-Jack terms that means they weren’t bad, but just not as great as they usually are. This Jack performance tried to touch it’s old good-comedy-crazy roots (“Terms of Endearment” (1983), “As Good As it Gets” (1997)), but he didn’t dig deep enough to reach them. For the first time in my whole life time, I though Morgan Freeman was a better actor then Jack Nicholson…WOW.

Reiner who has made such brilliant works like the every-so beautiful “Princess Pride” (1987), “When Harry Met Sally” (1989), “Misery” (1990) and “A Few Good Men” (1992) has remained status of his a director who hasn’t made any good films this decade. I mean, after this and “Rumor Has It…” (2005), it seems like old Robbie has lost his touch. Let’s just not hope its forever.

Just one thing to remember: don’t let the talent suck you in. Don’t think that this movie is “amazing” due to biasness. I love these actors, especially Nicholson but it really just didn’t work for me at all. Rob Reiner’s “The Bucket List” is a mere mediocre peace of work, that shouldn’t have been made, because the world could spin without it. Jack, Morgan and even Reiner could have made a better film this year, maybe not together, but certainly something better. Time to leave this movie where it belongs: the bucket.