Ken & Linda @ the movies

The Bucket List


Every once in a while a movie comes along that impresses me to the point that I can't stop thinking about it. The Bucket List is one of those movies. I had seen the previews both in the theater and on television and wanted to see the movie just on that basis alone. I thought this is going to be mostly a comedy with a few sad moments based on the subject involved. It turned out to be so much more.

This movie tells a tail of two men both with cancer and both given less than a year to live. Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) is a wealthy business man, Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) is an auto mechanic of modest means. They find themselves in adjoining beds in a hospital room where over a period of time they develop a friendship.

All of this you can surmise from the previews that are running in the theaters and on television since the movie was released. What you can't see is the rich dialog between the two characters as their past lives are developed into a story that draws the audience in and makes them seem to be someone that you know or have known in your life.

Having dealt with cancer in my own family I can tell you that some of the hospital scenes were written by someone who has spent time with someone who has been there or experienced it themselves.

The journey that follows take Edward and Carter literally around the world. Along the way the friendship grows deeper and both men reveal their inner most thoughts to each other as they look back over their lives. They discuss things that they wouldn't change if they could and about missed opportunities in life that can never be regained. They talk about faith,God and the existence of an after life. Each explaining their feelings to the other. Their relationship becomes strained as the get to know each other better and each man wants to nudge the other in a direction that they feel the other should be going. They remain friends to the end which involves a little twist near the conclusion of the movie that I didn't see coming. Maybe I was just too absorbed to see it, I will have to ask other who have watched the movie and see if they did.

The casting for the picture is first rate. Other than Nicholson and Freeman I wasn't familiar with the other actors in the film but they were just as believable as the main characters and the entire ensemble fit like a glove. The writing was first rate as was the acting. I had to go back and check to be sure and found that indeed The Bucket List had not garnered a single Oscar nomination. Hollywood wonders why people don't turn out in large number at movie theaters as the once did and for me it has always been answered by the quality of the product. Perhaps one day they will figure that out.

This movie is rated R for profanity and language with adult content. I myself prefer the days when an actor got fined fifty dollars for saying "Frankly my dear, I don't give a dam" and there are some movies that I won't go see or recommend based on gratuitous use of foul language. This one does not fall into that category. If you go to see it I think you will enjoy yourself and come away just a little changed. If you do leave me a comment and let me know.