The Bucket List
Review by Russ Breimeier | posted 12/25/2007
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Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) is a car mechanic and a loving family man with a penchant for trivia. Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) is a billionaire with an appreciation for the finer things, but with an unsympathetic, boorish attitude. The two end up sharing a hospital room due to a corporate policy that Edward himself instated. Cue the theme to The Odd Couple.
Actually, in spite of their obvious differences, the two men share something important in common (besides being portrayed by popular Oscar-winning actors): both are terminally ill with the prognosis of mere months to live.
Morgan Freeman as Carter
As they endure chemotherapy treatments together, Carter and Edward forge a friendship and begin talking about life and death. Recalling an assignment from his college philosophy class, Carter begins to write a "bucket list" of things he'd like to experience before he kicks said bucket. Staring at mortality, their deadlines looming, wealthy Edward makes some additions of his own and proposes that the two begin fulfilling their checklist, a journey that takes them around the world despite the protests of Carter's wife Virginia (Beverly Todd).
From there it's pretty obvious where this movie is headed. There are laughs to be had as the men live out some of their childish fantasies. Tears are shed, lives are changed. One man learns that in spite of what little he's experienced in his life, he's always had all he ever wanted. The other has everything, only to discover he has nothing. Predictable? Perhaps, but if nothing else, this movie reminds us of the importance of the journey.
The Bucket List strikes a nice balance between comedy and drama, favoring humor and poignant conversations over weepy developments. And it probably wouldn't have worked as well without two veterans like Nicholson and Freeman. Not that their performances are ground-breaking. In essence, both are doing what they do best, but in a way, that helps their characters seem more believable. We relate to them because they're so familiar.
Jack Nicholson as Edward
Freeman is the friendly everyman, extolling sagely wisdom and virtue. He even narrates part of the film a la Shawshank Redemption and March of the Penguins. Carter is the model of tranquility, even when he gets the bad news about his condition. But I love the frustration he expresses as a man who gave all his time to his family for 45 years, yet now is faced with missing out on the joy and majesty life has to offer. And it also helps that Freeman's smile and laughter is so contagious.
In contrast, Nicholson is the mischievous grouch, often recalling his fine work as the aging retiree in About Schmidt. Though it's fun to see young Jack light up—signature grin, raised eyebrows—as Edward starts telling Carter about all the fun they can have together. Admittedly, you want to see Edward suffer a bit because of his attitude, and yet we feel for him as he copes with the agonizing cancer treatments. When he says, "I've never been sick before," it's delivered as a sympathetic epiphany from an unsympathetic man who to this point has no idea what it means to suffer physically. Now is that good writing or acting to draw such a dynamic response from us to Edward's character?
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