The Bucket List

The Bucket List was finally available at the Red Box in our Vons store, so we picked it up. I am a fan of both Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, so I had some pretty high hopes. While I don't think this is anywhere near one of my favorite movies, it didn't disappoint.

The movie starts out with a brief introduction of the characters. Morgan Freeman is Carter Chambers, a lifelong auto mechanic with a fairly solid family structure, a love of trivia (Jeopardy in particular), and is an all-around good guy. Edward Cole, played by Jack Nicholson, is introduced in the monologue as a man full of life, who died with a smile on his face. When you meet Edward Cole for the first time, you can tell where the movie is going to go. He is a very worldly man, out only for himself. You know he is bound to meet Carter, and you don't have to wait long.

Both characters end up in the hospital fairly quickly. Through an interesting turn of events, Cole ends up a patient in his own hospital, one that he proudly advertises has "two beds to a room, no exceptions." He runs "hospitals, not health spas". This is the reason he doesn't have his own room. His assistant insists that it will be bad PR to break the rule for himself.

Eventually both men get the prognosis of less than one year to live. Just before learning this news, Carter begins reconstructing something he wrote without taking seriously some time before. It is called the "bucket list". What things do you want to accomplish before you "kick the bucket"? Once he finds out the news of his impending death, he decides it is worthless and trashes it. Cole finds the list and convinces Carter to go on a trip. This is where the fun begins.

As they travel from place to place, you see the friendship developing between these two strangers. They start opening up about their lives, and then both contribute to a rift by trying to fix the other one. I will leave the details and the ending for you to watch for yourself.

This movie is directed by Rob Reiner. I didn't know this until the closing credits. I am not a fan of Reiner by any stretch of the word. I think he is a liberal political crony, who is usually on the wrong side of any issue. It appears that his directing is somewhat detached from his personality, though. I don't think his left-wing agenda played too big a part in this movie, and for that I am glad. I will probably watch this movie again, but I don't think it is one for my personal collection.

I recommend this one for a rental.

RATING: