Movie Notes: The Bucket List
= 3 stars
Starring Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman
Directed by Rob Reiner
Synopsis
Billionaire Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) and auto mechanic Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman), both diagnosed with terminal illnesses, decide to live their lives to the fullest, checking off life goals from a “bucket list” of last wishes.
The Good
- Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, both excellent actors, do their darndest to sell this not-as-profound-as-it-thinks-it-is story.
The Bad
- The first hour of the two new friends checking off items from the list was surprisingly dull. The world travel makes for picturesque settings, but there’s hardly any interaction with other people, and it’s just an opportunity to trade armchair philosophies that could have been shared from their hospital beds.
- Quite predictable. The meaner of the two gains some humanity from the other, and neither escapes their final dance with destiny. The knowledge of kopi luwak, saved until the finale as some enlightening surprise, was also known to me as well.
Conclusion
A decent rental, if only to see Nicholson and Freeman in a movie together. The film’s message: don’t waste your middle years or you’ll end up like these two, trying to atone for a lifetime of procrastination through a crumpled piece of paper. And the film resembles Cole and Chambers’ lives: you can skip its entire middle — the only good stuff is at the beginning and end.
IMDB: The Bucket List
Wikipedia: The Bucket List
Rotten Tomatoes: The Bucket List
I was prepared for this to be a real cliched mess but pleasantly surprised that it (mostly) rose far above that. It does lag at the beginning a bit, but overall, really enjoyable.
It’s a brilliant movie (like most Jack Nicholson movies). If you want to learn more about Kopi Luwak, watch this movie: http://www.garlicoon.com/video/2030520:Video:6382
[…] No grand moments of catharsis or revelation, which might be a bit off-putting for those used to Hollywood conventions of having everything figured out before the end arrives. This isn’t The Bucket List. […]
This movie was on HBO, I think the other night. I remember I wanted to see it when it first came out and the only reason I didn’t watch it is because the review for the film only gave it 1 star. You “bad” comments seem to be the general consenss about what’s wrong with the film,..and I’m a little curious on why you gave it 3 stars…or is it just ’cause you like Freeman and Nicholson so much?
[…] to die in a year and perished skydiving a month early because falling from a plane was on your bucket list, more power […]