Review: The Bucket List

Imagine if Thelma and Louise were recast with old men. Oh, and they have cancer. One of them is rich. That’s The Bucket List.

The Bucket List is a mediocre attempt to take two brilliant box office giants, hand them a weak script revolving around an extremely basic and overplayed warm, fuzzy feeling of realizing what’s important in life and hope that they can make up for the rudimentary plot. Kudos to Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman.

The movie starts off with an unknown man climbing to the top of a large, snow-capped mountain with Freeman narrating. This is where the movie peaks, pun intended. Freeman, who has had roles ranging from God in Bruce Almighty and the president in Deep Impact, isn’t just the voice-over. No, he’s in his most important role yet: a mechanic.

We soon learn that Carter Chambers, a witty and brilliant mechanic played by Freeman, has been diagnosed with cancer. Edward Cole, played by Nicholson, is an unruly, wealthy tycoon of a hospital empire who is similarly diagnosed with cancer. How ironic. Who would have guessed that they would soon share the same room?

At first, the mismatched pair have their differences, but after they go through the trials of chemotherapy, family visits and views on death, they become the best of friends. Carter begins to make a list of things to do before he dies, a “bucket” list, and Edward decides to get in on the fun. When you want to travel the world, it helps to have a rich friend. Carter is slightly discouraged by his wife Virginia, played by Beverly Todd (Ascension Day, Crash), but decides he’d rather run around the world with a rich stranger as they waste money on frivolous activities as opposed to spending time with his family and taking care of his illness. Just like real life.

As the two skydive, drag race, visit exotic places like the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China and attempt to complete the list before they die, they start to rub off on each other. Edward softens and begins to see that money can’t buy happiness, and Carter rekindles his love with his wife. Then the whole Brady Bunch performs a song to win a talent competition to keep their dog and save the house.

Oops, no need for the Brady kids, this movie is already filled to the brim with cheesy life lessons. It seems the act of beating a dead horse is still alive and well. Rob Reiner, director of Rumor Has It and A Few Good Men, shouldn’t expect much of a return in the form of awards, and Justin Zackham should stick to writing about frat boys.

I do give high regards to Freeman and Nicholson. Despite the flubs in plot development, they give high-caliber performances. With Freeman’s ability to play the cool, collected yes-man and Nicholson’s quirky but captivating pessimist-with-a-heart-of-gold accentuated the individual qualities of both actors. I’d love to see what these two would be able to do with a decent story behind them.

Overall, this movie was predictable. If you have two men from different backgrounds dying of cancer, won’t they always become friends and learn essential life lessons before their time is up? Yes, and yes. If you want to see a buddy movie about cancer patients and somehow leave with a warm, fuzzy feeling, this is right up your alley. Any hardcore Morgan Freeman or Jack Nicholson fans would also appreciate it. Even then, it would be worth waiting until the DVD is released before braving this anti-climactic standard.