The Bucket List (2007)

[4]

Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman play terminally-ill cancer patients who decide to make one last go at their ‘bucket list’ — a list of things to see and do before they die. I usually trust director Rob Reiner (When Harry Met Sally, The Princess Bride) to deliver the goods, but this one’s a misfire for me. The opening act is naturally a sad one, as both men wrestle with chemotherapy and come to terms with their prognoses. But I knew the second act would be fun and funny, counter-balancing and overcoming the first act. Only that didn’t happen.

The Bucket List flits through just enough skydiving and racecar driving to make a deceptive trailer out of, before resorting to schmaltz and sentimentality. I’d be okay with a straight dramatic version of this movie, but not one this sickly sweet and obvious. Nicholson and Freeman make it almost watchable through sheer star power, but a great dramedy this is not. With Sean Hayes and Beverly Todd. Rowena King has a stand-out moment as Freeman’s daughter.