Plot Overview
You would think that the first-time pairing of two screen legends, Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, would have more flare than this, but The Bucket List takes a safe way out and settles for a cheese-fest we have all witnessed many, many times before. In the movie, Nicholson plays Edward Cole, a corporate billionaire, who was busy making money all his life. He has been married four times before and has a daughter he hasn’t spoken to in years. Freeman plays a man called Carter Chambers, who was an aspiring philosophy student, but soon after starting his studies, he had a kid on the way, which resulted in marriage, paying the bills, etc. So, he became a working-class auto mechanic, which is what he has been doing for 45 years. The two men meet when they find out that they have cancer and end up sharing a room in a hospital. They eventually become unlikely friends and decide to go on a trip around the world to do all the things they wanted to in life before they “kick the bucket.”

The Good
The movie opens with a voice-over narration by Freeman; so once again, people will think they are watching The Shawshank Redemption. Freeman has charisma, which is so often present in his characters, and Nicholson’s Edward is as different as he can be. The Bucket List benefits from the presence of the two titans, whose chemistry is the best thing the movie has going for it. For a while, there is a nice balance between comedy and drama, and leading up to the last twenty minutes, the film is very, very entertaining.

The Bad
The Bucket List has “formula-ridden” written all over it. It is overly sentimental and wants to be a legit tear-jerker, which is tough to pull off or appreciate when the entire picture is manipulative and contrived. This is really disappointing, especially in regards to its director Rob Reiner, who once upon a time made great films, such as This is Spinal Tap (1984), Stand By Me (1986), When Harry Met Sally (1989), Misery (1990) and A Few Good Men (1992). He hasn’t made a decent movie in over a decade now. His latest effort is driven by the lazy, self-indulgent screenplay that does not have a sip of reality to it. The Bucket List becomes superficial very early in its short run and the last twenty minutes are so corny that they can squeeze the life out of you.

Final Word
It is hard to believe that Nicholson and Freeman never teamed up on screen before. Surprisingly enough, they are the same age and have almost nothing in common, which is why the idea of the two striking a genuine friendship was very promising. I only wish that this legendary pair had better material to work with. The formula works, Michael Mann brought Robert De Niro and Al Pacino together for the first time in Heat (1995). The Bucket List is the kind of a movie that is hard to resist, but its predictable morals and ideas of living life to the fullest are extremely thin and sleazy. Pass on this one.