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Jack Nicholson
and Morgan Freeman die here. There, I spoiled it for you. Just kidding,
it’s not a spoiler when Freeman tells you at the first three minutes of
“The Bucket List” and that’s the general premise behind this
surprisingly cute and entertaining dramedy about living life before it
all ends. I expected almost nothing from this film upon starting it, but
I found it impossible not to connect to the two men’s missions to find
out what life has to offer them while they’re around. I absolutely
adored what Rob Reiner had to offer with his ode to senior citizens who
discover what life is when they realize they only have a short time left
on Earth. Changing pace, “The Bucket List” is never as trite and cliché
as it could be, instead it intends on being a genuine character study
focusing on two unfulfilled men who tend to balance each other out, and
it pays off with moments of emotional clarity that Nicholson and Freeman
sell with banner performances. Life affirming usually isn’t my choice of
genre films, but “The Bucket List” connects to our fear of mortality and
dying alone and the two tragic characters of our story are men who have
never experienced life as they feel it should have been experienced.
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The portrait
of their relationship is always soft and gentle with
dialogue and moment between the two skilled actors that are
both funny, and utterly gut-wrenching. This is, if anything,
one of the final statements to both individuals’ staying
power in cinema, as they manage to take potentially
sitcomish material and handle it with grace. Writer Zackham
helps us feel for these two men who are facing death down,
and their escapades to experience life before its over is
entertaining. |
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They travel, they
discuss unusual things, and they even sit along the pyramids trading
anecdotes, and they’re handled with brutal realism. One of the better
sequences involves the two men skydiving, and it's so void of slapstick
that it's both hysterical and sad. Nicholson as the millionaire Edward
Cole who is at first crusty and mean but takes a liking to his roommate
Carter is an interesting and engrossing progression, as Nicholson pulls
away from his former schtick of being a sleazy man, taking form of a man
with a sad past and Zackham adds a method to his madness. Freeman is
sublime as the observer and working class knowledge guru who spouts
unusual trivia whenever the occasion allows it and fulfills much of what
he desires in life thanks to Cole’s riches that he shares with him to
bring their ideas to light.
There’s also a very
good supporting role from Sean Hayes who plays Nicholson’s assistant
accompanying the men across the world, and helping them to plan their
next big ploy. While it does attempt to discuss the poor treatment of
the elderly in some cases, it instead thankfully meanders from the
footnote, and focuses on the truly interesting story aspect of these two
men risking life and limb to find a way to die by each other’s side,
rather than alone. I’ll insist that I was surprised that “The Bucket
List” ended in such a gut-wrenching and satisfying manner, but Reiner,
Nicholson and Freeman sell it.
A bit sappy, a
bit sentimental, and completely life affirming, “The Bucket List”
reminds us to get in our kicks in life while we can, because one day it
will all be over. Make the best of it. I love it.
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