The Bucket List Review

By Lori Peters

OK, maybe this movie should have been called the (F…IT list) - rhymes with bucket. Well, read on then you decide. Now, you figure two Oscar winners, Jack Nicholson (the nut villain in Batman - the Joker, the scary nut in The Shining and the lobotomized nut in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest ) and Morgan Freeman, who everyone knows is God’s stand in have to make an entertaining movie. Rob Reiner at 60 directs The Bucket List with finesse and style.

Yet, a movie about two old men in a hospital who are dying with cancer doesn’t quite reek of comedy, but laughter is the best medicine, right?
Morgan Freeman plays Carter Chambers who is a super genius (think Wile E. Coyote). Carter’s a Jeopardy winner in waiting, who could tell you the amount of nose hairs that were in Abe Lincoln’s nose when he died and the length of each nose hair. He knows everything. Yet with all his vast wisdom he is only a poor mechanic.

Jack Nicholson plays the obnoxious Edward Cole, a cynical billionaire who wipes his butt with 100 dollar bills. Edward is a greedy corporate hospital owner who doesn’t care about the patients. That is until he becomes one of them. He is made to share a room like any other patient, thus meeting mechanic, Jeopardy genius, Carter Chambers. The two become fast friends, Edward pukes his guts out after chemotherapy and helps Carter get a doctor to actually read his chart. They play cards and Carter writes “the bucket list”. He throws the paper down in frustration only to fight Edward for the crumpled up page. A philosophy teacher had once given Carter an assignment to make a list of all the things he would like to accomplish before he kicks the bucket and so the premise is set.

Edward, no fan of marriage with 4 divorces under his belt takes Carter away from his wife and doctors to travel the world in style. Edward’s underling assistant, Sean Hayes from Will and Grace, plays the almost not gay, Thomas. He is at Edward’s beck and call in the hopes that he will soon inherit Edward’s vast fortune when he kicks the bucket. Thomas reveals his real name is Matthew, but Edward thought it was too biblical and renamed him Thomas. He also renames Carter, “my main man, Ray”.

The two terminal cancer patients go through their bucket list, crossing off each item as it’s done. Sky Diving, drag racing Carter’s dream cars, seeing something majestic, kissing the prettiest girl in the world, and seeing the Taj Mahal all on Edward’s tab.
It was almost believable until Carter turns down a gorgeous, genius girl who invites him upstairs to hook up. He realizes he really loves his wife and the trip ends.

Go see The Bucket List or just stay home and write one of your own. Either way you’ll have some good laughs.

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