The Bucket List [Blu-ray] starring Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman

A Classic

You measure yourself by the people who measure themselves by you,

says the quietly wise Carter Chambers, played with gravitas and grace by

a Morgan Freeman. In Rob Reiners moving, often hilarious film The Bucket

List, all sorts of people measure themselves against the two heroes,

Chambers and his hospital suitemate, Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson). But

as Cole finds, having spent his entire life building a Fortune 500 company,

none of that much matters when cancer, the great equalizer, pays a visit.

The film traces the adventures of the two unlikely friends, who meet in a hospital cancer ward, each given six months to live. The bucket list of the

title refers to a lifelong list of goals that a teacher of Chambers once

advised him to compile--and achieve--before you kick the bucket. Soon the

two are off on what may be the last grand adventure of their life, vowing to

tick off as many goals (skydiving, race-car driving, seeing the wonders of

the world) as they can in the time they have left. What starts as a medical

melodrama becomes a road trip, yet the mens mortality realities are never

far from thought. The two leads give impressive performances, and remind

the viewer of just how few American films focus on the lives and loves of

senior citizens. Nicholson even manages to lose his persona in his

character, much as he did in About Schmidt. Theres a lovely John Mayer

tune, Say (What You Need to Say), thats perfectly matched to the films

clear-eyed view of life: What does one person leave behind as his true

legacy? --A.T. Hurley

Two men in their seventies from utterly different backgrounds share the

same hospital room in LA - and they both have forms of cancer that give

them less than a year to live. When both go into remission they set off on

an odyssey of indulgence doing things that they had always wanted to do,

but had until now neither the time or opportunity to realise such dreams.

When you have two of Hollywoods most talented senior statesmen working

around a story as touching as this combined with such expert direction and

production design, its almost inevitable that the result is a treat, for that is

what it turned out to be. Nicholson plays an atheistic billionaire

businessman, often married but with little to smile about even before his

medical diagnosis. Freeman plays a God-fearing car-mechanic with a

close and loving family whose only regret is a life-long frustration at not

achieving the heights he once aspired to as a young man, having unselfishly put his familys security before his own desires. Nicholson

provides most of the cynical black humour, Freeman the loyalty to his wife,

religious faith and righteous philosophies. Its billed as a comedy drama but

its more than that; in fact it can be almost anything the viewer wants it to

be, because I would suggest that different people seeing this film will take

different meanings and memories away with them, depending on their

point of view. The title of the film is not attractive but it is to the point: these

two men draw up a list of wild or wonderful things to do before they kick

the bucket. In some way its a mini epic inasfar as the geographic span the

film covers, because although the first half-hour or so is spent in a small

hospital room, much of the rest is spent skydiving, racing cars and

travelling to the south of France, the Pyramids of Egypt, on safari in

Tanzania, at the Taj Mahal in India, up Mount Everest in Nepal, along the

Great Wall of China and eventually in Hong Kong. Each location was

chosen so that one or other of the two men could face up to a specific facet of life, and as one of them comments at the beginning and again at

the end, the short time they spent together was a greater adventure than

most experience in a whole lifetime.

It is, of course, just a story for the purpose of entertainment but I thought

there were plenty of issues to make us all ponder about our own mortality,

and perhaps in particular the two things we should aim for while we are

here: to have joy in our lives, and to bring joy into the lives of those around

us. Its easy to be as cynical about such ideals as Nicholsons character is

about love, money and religion but if you accept it, keep an open mind,

then there is plenty of joy to be taken out of this film. Despite the ostensibly

sad subject - terminal cancer - there is actually very little sadness itself

here, instead it is mainly thought-provoking, amusing and in many ways

uplifting.

The extras on the DVD include something I personally have never seen

before - a full-length re-run of the whole film with regular post-it style notes

on screen providing snippets of information about the actors real lives, the

locations, the special effects and much more. It was so interesting I just

had to watch this film again immediately after the first run, and I cant remember the last time I had a DVD and felt willing and able to do that!

Indeed I dont often give out the full 5 stars for DVDs but in this instance I

have no hesitation. Its a gem and will live long in the memory.

In summary: a funny, moving and intelligently written film that entertains in

many different ways. Worth buying, not just renting, as you might want to

see it several times.

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