Reviewed by Jo Wood
Stars Morgan Freeman, Jack Nicholson, Sean Hayes, Beverly Todd,
Rob Morrow, Alfonso Freeman, Rowena King, Verda Bridges | Written by Justin Zackham
UK certification 12 | UK RRP £15.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 93 minutes | Directed by Rob Reiner
Director Rob Reiner recalls: "Morgan is a big hugger, Jack is not. On the last day of shooting we had just shaved Jack's head for the hospital scene; it was quite dramatic. Morgan came across: 'Oh no, we are not going to have to hug now, are we?' says Jack. And Morgan looks him straight in the eye and says, 'This has been a dream come true for me,' and Jack looked back and said, 'Likewise' — and they hugged each other." And that’s what The Bucket List is. It’s not particularly clever, not overwhelmingly funny, nor is it slit-your-wrists sad; what this film is is a dream come true for the viewer — being allowed the opportunity to see two of Hollywood’s greats perform opposite one another, bound by the ease that these two actors have around each other.
The Bucket List is, in its essence, a to-do list before you "kick the bucket". Terminally ill cancer patients Edward (Nicholson) and Carter (Freeman) come from polar-opposite ends of life’s spectrum. Neither actor steps too far from roles they have executed numerously in the past — Nicholson playing the hard-to-like, womanising, successful wise-ass, while Freeman plays the black, working class, family man. Neither man particularly overjoyed with life’s dealings, stuck in the same room facing death and playing gin, they resolve to embark on a journey to fulfil every dream they have yet to realise. The list comprises of both whimsical ideas such as laughing until you cry to going on safari — the image of Freeman and Nicholson hanging from the roof of a 4x4 singing The Lion Sleeps Tonight will stay in the consciousness for as long as these two men are remembered.
A friend of mine recently said that the sound of Freeman’s voice alone could move her to tears , and I tend to agree with her. As in Shawshank Redemption and Feast of Love, Freeman’s haunting narration throughout the movie sets the tone and delivers emotion in the gentlest, most natural of ways. Nicholson’s delivery in comparison often grates — too husky, too forced, but in perfect balance to the gentle waves of Freeman. With the inevitability of death looming over our heroes, one would imagine The Bucket List to be sadder than it is. I was oddly soothed by the morbid sense of inevitability, and dark humour running through its veins — at one point, vomiting into the shared toilet as an effect of chemotherapy, Nicholson muses to himself: "Somewhere right now, some lucky bastard is having a heart attack."
The unsung hero of this film will undoubtedly be Sean Hayes as Nicholson’s long-suffering assistant, Thomas. His line delivery, timing and ability to hold his own beside these two old masters deserves him worthy recognition. The film deserves its 4-star rating — not for cinematography, plot, nor script, but for putting these heavyweights in the same room together, let alone allowing us an entire movie.
EXTRAS * A rather dull, very short piece from Justin Zackham about writing abucket list, plus a music video of John Mayer singing the song Say. There's also, allegedly, some DVD-ROm content, which wouldn't work on the Screenjabber computer — it kept telling us to upgrade to the latest version of Windows Media Player. Which we have. So we didn't get to see what the content is, but rumour has it that it's just a link to some online deleted scenes.