mark faulkner

This is a movie that finds humor in cancer. "The Bucket List" thinks dying of cancer is a laff riot, followed by a tug at the heartstrings epiphany. The film opens with a voiceover narration by Morgan Freeman, extolling the saintly virtues of Jack Nicholson's character who somehow deserves our reverence. The movie should have instead opened with the Jack Nicholson voiceover telling us what a great guy the Morgan Freeman character was? Nicholson could say, "I was a rich, unpleasant, selfish jerk, and this wise, nice man taught me to feel hope and love." Jack Nicholson is Edward, an enormously rich man of about 70, who has been diagnosed with cancer, given a year to live, and is sharing a room with Carter (Freeman), about the same age, and the same prognosis. Why does a billionaire not have a private room? Why, because Edward owns the hospital, and he has a policy that all patients must double up, so it would look bad if he didn't. This plot fabrication is to show that Edward and Carter must be roommates to set up their relationship. They first rub each other the wrong way and then have an orgy of male bonding. Turns out Carter has a "bucket list" of things he should do before he kicks the bucket. Edward embraces this idea, announces, "Hell, all I have is money," and treats Carter to an around-the-world trip in his private airplane. They have an itinerary to visit the Pyramids, the Taj Mahal, Hong Kong, the French Riviera and the Himalayas. Freeman's character, Carter will die first, giving Nicholson's Edward the chance of redemption with his estranged daughter and his granddaughter, and able to give a tear-jerking eulogy for Freeman's character. This film is enjoyable if you don't think about it too much.

Completely implausible. A waste of time...nothing noir about this stinker.

This could have been a good thriller with the thin ice cracking and swallowing whole tractor-trailers, white-out blizzards, and overloaded bridges to keep us on the edge of our seats. But NO, they had to throw in an indestructible super-villain who seemingly gets killed at least 10 times during the film's last half-hour, only to pop back up stronger than ever. I'm really surprised that they didn't use this villain for one last 'jump scare'.