Movie Review: The Bucket List

Here’s my theory on the Bucket List — Morgan Freeman wakes up one day and finds he has terminal cancer. That same day he finds out that Jack Nicholson has terminal cancer… he gives him a call:

“Hey Jack, let’s make a documentary about how we spend our last days on earth,” says Freeman.
“Better idea, let’s change our names and make everyone think that it’s a movie, then we’ll make gillions more,” replies Nicholson.
“Jack, a gillion is not not a number.”
“Kid, when you look this good, the technicalities stop counting.”

What I’m trying to get at is that in the Bucket List, Morgan Freeman plays Morgan Freeman and “Slammin” Jack Nicholson plays “Hot Shot” Jack Nicholson. In a film about how they would spend their last days on earth.

But seriously folks, Morgan Freeman plays your hard working, everyday shlub with infinite intellect. He is sent to the hospital for a check-up, where he finds out he has a terminal disease. Jack Nicholson plays your average wealthy tycoon who finds out he, too, will be leaving us in less than one year. The two, living on opposite ends of life, share a hospital room and learn vast amounts of each other’s life styles. They develop a list of things to do before the grim reaper grabs them on the shoulder, including things like “Skydiving” (Nicholson) and “Laugh until you cry” (Freeman).

This is a pretty decent film. I enjoyed it. The acting is great (as one might suspect), which gives the film some super brownie points. I think if it hadn’t been cast with two Academy Award winners, I would not have enjoyed it as much.

That said, this film is shallow as heck. It’s truly the very same story that has been told countless times. Richie Rich meets Deepy Deep, they become best friends and learn more about life through each others eyes. I hope that didn’t spoil the film for you.

And that said, this is a film that does what you, the viewer, want it to do. They make a list of cool stuff to do and you the viewer get to watch them race cars and jump out of planes. But when the film starts to get sentimental and Streisand, you start to question it’s independence from other films. It will get sappy, trust me.

All in all, it’s up to the viewer to decide how good a film is, but I have a feeling your grandparents will enjoy this one far more than you. They go ga-ga over movies like this. But don’t go into the theater expecting something fresh and eye appealing.

By Samuel Allen