The Bucket List (**)
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Jack Nicholson
Seen: January 26th 2008
** Out of ****
Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, how can it go wrong? Sentiment? Script? The feeling that this is not really anything new?
Don’t get me wrong, this is actually a heart-warming film, and it has some good laughs, but it is not that memorable, not one of the standout films this year, not even this month.
Morgan Freeman plays a mechanic who has an encyclopaedic general knowledge, no-one can out-quiz him. But he has never in his life done anything out of the ordinary, he has never taken any risks, and he is pretty happy with what he has achieved until he ends up in the hospital with cancer, sharing a room.
Jack Nicholson is the eccentric billionaire who has never had any trouble getting what he wants and has also never “fallen” for anything remotely affecting him personally or emotionally. He has never gone back to see his daughter and displays a dogged determination not to. He owns a hospital group and in a drive to save even more money, he implements a business strategy in his hospitals. Two patients to a room, no exceptions. Hospitals are not health spas, people don’t go there to relax.
His own rule gets him, and he is put into a room with, you guessed it, Morgan Freeman. Both men have an expiry date coming soon, and Morgan Freeman decides to write his bucket list, things he wants to do before, well, kicking the bucket. Taking the risks he didn’t, doing the things he’s always wanted to but didn’t, and after hiding this list from our funny man Jack Nicholson, it is exposed, and our rich man starts bankrolling the bucket list, for both of these men, who couldn’t differ more.
Both Freeman and Nicholson are type cast for their roles in this film, and they simply re-enact the majority of their previous roles through a sequence of “funny-just-because” stunts, events and fights. Eventually a bit of depth is displayed as Freeman tries to convince Nicholson to visit his daughter and granddaughter, which supplies us with a very moving little scene, Nicholson meeting his granddaughter for the first time, he is still a great actor. Conversely, Freeman has an issue with his wife having an issue with his sudden disappearance out of her life, he wants to do his own thing for the first time in 50 years and she does not feel he is justified in it.
But alas, everything works out beautifully in another popcorn friendly movie that will draw the crowds because of its sentiment and lead actors. I didn’t even remember their character names, telling me that these two actors are, at least in this film, bigger than the characters they portray, and I don’t think that’s a good thing. Here's a thought: why not cast them the exact opposite way? Would that not have been something to see - both of these great actors out of their type-cast comfort zones? The multitudes, however, will enjoy this movie.
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