Movie Review - 'The Bucket List'

The Bucket List

Starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman
Directed by Rob Reiner
Rated PG-13

The Bucket List perfectly captures the well-known qualities of its stars, Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, and its director, Rob Reiner: It's a bit over the hill, can catch you if you're guard is down, and is affable but doesn't leave you wanting more.This is not in any way an indictment of Nicholson and Freeman, both of whom have more good performances than bad. Reiner, on the other hand, has been adrift for over a decade. The dividing line for him was North, about which Roger Ebert famous quipped, "I hated this movie. Hated, hated, hated, hated, hated, hated this movie. Hated it." North followed Spinal Tap, Stand By Me, Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, and A Few Good Men and preceded Ghosts of Mississippi, The Story of Us, Alex & Emma, and Rumor Has It, with An American President thrown in early in that mix.

Clearly, Reiner needs not just a hit but a win. Seeing how far he'd fallen, The Bucket List might as well be Casablanca for him, but for the stars, it's kind of like the first act of semi-retirement.

The setup is easy but too painstakingly developed: Two septaugenarians meet in the hospital and decide to make a list of things they need to do before they kick the bucket. One man is rich (Nicholson) and one has worked hard every damn day of his life (Freeman). After that, it's just Thelma and Louise meets Wild Hogs.

What would be interesting is for these two gargantuan talents to play against type and switch roles. It would be a better movie that way, because the performances wouldn't seem so mailed in. Likewise, it would challenge Reiner to capture aspects of these actors' abilities we don't see very often.

As it is, The Bucket List passes the time, but if you've got a bucket list of your own, I wouldn't waste too much of it on this flick.