It won’t win any
Oscars, but
The
Bucket List has enough to make you laugh and care a little
bit about what
might be waiting for us at the end of the road.
Jack
Nicholson stars as Edward
– the outrageous, outspoken CEO of a controversial, and some
think heartless,
chain of hospitals. Edward
soon is
admitted to one of his own facilities after discovering he has cancer,
and has very
little time to live, when he meets his roommate, Carter (Morgan
Freeman). As you
can imagine, where Edward is loud and
opinionated, Carter is quiet and plaintive.
Also facing a dire diagnosis, Carter starts to make
a list of all of the
things he wants to do before he “kicks the bucket.” Edward likes the idea, and
has the money to
make it all happen, so the new friends head out to live their dreams,
even if
their friends and family aren’t all that happy with the plan.
Will Edward and
Carter complete
their lists before it is too late?
The
Bucket List is enjoyable
for the most part and touching in others, but nothing surprising or
groundbreaking. Jack
Nicholson pretty
much plays Jack Nicholson, while Morgan Freeman pretty much plays
Morgan
Freeman. Neither
one is pushed to any
extremes or called upon to deliver a fire and brimstone speech that
will make
the audience applaud and scream out in joy.
However, they deliver the dependable, entertaining
and likable
performance each one can put forth with ease and command the screen
with their
confidence.
Additionally, director Rob
Reiner has a nice way of finding the middle ground in any movie and
entertaining almost everyone in the audience from the snooty cinephile
to the
regular folks. Reiner
points the barbs
at the strawman, and lets Freeman and Nicholson knock that strawman
over
without much difficulty, but The
Bucket List lacks a natural flow.
Reiner knows how to capture
and promote the strong chemistry between Freeman and Nicholson, even
giving us the
feeling they might actually be friends with the poking and prodding
real pals
go through. However,
The
Bucket List feels
like it is klunking from scene to scene without much of a plan and
without the
audience getting a grasp over the timing of this bucket list pursuit. The script causes some of
that.
Writer Justin Zackham
doesn’t
take enough time (or maybe doesn’t get enough time from the
editor) to fully
play out any little conflict or storyline.
He doesn’t explain the trouble between
Carter and his wife very well. He
tosses in a long lost cliché problem for
Edward. Often,
these bumps in the road feel
like conflict for conflict’s sake instead of contributing to
the story.
The
Bucket List is drawn out
at the end to play with your expectations, but not enough to ruin the
whole
movie experience.
2
½
Waffles (Out of 4)
The
Bucket List is
rated PG-13 for language including a sexual reference.
Copyright
2008 - WaffleMovies.com
