The Bucket List (2007)

Directed by: Rob Reiner

Written by: Justin Zackham

 

Corporate billionaire Edward Cole(Jack Nicholson) finds out he is terminally ill and is placed in a room in his own hospital with Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) who is also terminally ill. Carter is an aging car mechanic with a wife and family while Edward Cole seems to be a man who is an island.  No attachments, a various array of ex-wives, yet each have the same non-future before them.  Edward seems intrigued by Carter and his general enthusiasm for life.  The two together decide to make their bucket list,  a list that is all the things they always wanted to do by the time they die.  Carter makes the list and Edward has the means.   Together they start an outward journey that involves driving race cars, sky diving, and visiting the Taj Mahal.   But it isn’t long before their journey shows important things each of them have not yet faced.

Bucket List was full of inspiration, motivation and a very realistic sense of mortality.  The contrast of Edward and Carter is immediately evident but the way their differences affect each other and change their views is subtle and smart.  Rob Reiner is wise enough to know that Jack and Morgan are gifted and intuitive enough actors to take their characters to the right level, which they do.  The enjoyment of their adventure coupled with “Jack” moments and Morgan Freeman’s outstanding ability to convey the depth of any story he’s in was simply a gift to the viewer.  Both actors were seventy years old when they made this movie but they both retain the spirit of men twenty years their junior.

There are moments where the film takes the over sentimentality of the subject matter and almost borders it with cheese, but the veteran acting and implicit directing seems to have avoided letting it go too far by focusing on the interaction and developing bond of the two men and the great places they travel.  Carter’s reflectiveness and Edward’s refusal to see past the end of his own nose makes it almost seem like Edward is Carter’s conscience speaking to him.  A conscience that he acknowledges but doesn’t always want to concede is right.

The biggest problem this film faced and didn’t entirely overcome was the predictability of it.  You could see where one of the character’s would end up and how it would change the other.  It was the obvious answer to the rest of the events leading up to it, but in it’s moment it didn’t feel as natural, and did unfortunately cross over the barrier from smart, sentimental film to a movie that was searching for those sappy pressure points.  The rest of the film, though predictable, avoided that feeling.

The Bucket List turned out to be a really enjoyable movie to watch, due to the phenomenal acting of Nicholson and Freeman’s parts.  Two other great actors with less chemistry would have made this one a snoozer, but instead it turned out to be a film with heavy subject matter, that was portrayed in a way that left you feeling light and hopeful about life, not to mention gave you some well deserved laughter.  The finale wasn’t a tear jerker but it did call for a warm smile of closure.  Not sure this film will be revisited, but it would have been worth the cash to see it in the theatre.  The Bucket List gets Two and a half out of Four stars.