CriticSociety- film reviews

Review

The Bucket List

Director

Rob Reiner

Year

2007

Rating

Reviewed by

Gon Curiel a.k.a. Groucho

Review date

Sunday, February 08, 2009

I enrolled in an extraordinary coaching program at work that I’m very grateful for. As one of the final tasks, my coach requested that I write an obituary for myself. Quite the self-loathing prick at times, I discovered it was great to have found so clearly that I in fact appreciate and love myself continuously but am sometimes such a cynic that I can’t admit it. The coach suggested that I see The Bucket List, a recent film I had missed, as it talks about closure, life enjoyment, and memorable obituaries.

The result is exactly what I expected, based on the comments I heard back then: two reliable first-rate actors wrestle with a strictly feel-good crowd-pleasing limited script that despite its shortcomings ends up capturing the worst of cynics after all; a sufficiently good job, in all, let’s say, but never above average. Still, I’ll find it really hard to pan the output; it would feel rather abusive, don’t know why. I’ll be as objective as I possibly can.

Justin Zackham’s screenplay does what scripts are not supposed to do: facilitate everything for the characters to help them achieve their pursuits. If they find an obstacle, it’s trivial and easily overcome. Sometimes it’s a relief, though, to just cut to the chase and see what’s the point. Drama is sacrificed for the sake of heartwarming, and that’s why being objective is hard in this case, because the heart interferes and makes things subjective (it can be discussed, though, that nothing is objective in a critic’s opinion, though, because he’s using his point of view at all times, but that’s a different subject which I also, curiously, discussed lengthily with my coach).

Two old men are near death: mechanic Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman, who also narrates, what a shocker!) and tycoon Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson). Sharing a room, they get to know each other and inevitably bond during their illnesses. When they find out they’re dying, Carter starts working on a list of things to do before he “kicks the bucket”. Edward proposes they go wild with that list and make their wildest dreams come true, because money is not an object (thanks to the writer, of course). This sets off the motions for an around-the-world adventure that leads, after all is said and done, and quite predictably, to the men’s achievement of a happy ending for their lives, which they improve considerably during their last stage.

It’s very easy to sit through The Bucket List because it’s so simple, humorous, and starring two charming and fantastic actors, though Nicholson is hammy as hell like he doesn’t give a darn, which he has very good reasons to, by the way, but it’s still unjustifiable. Their globetrotting adventures aren’t nearly as exciting or as funny as they could be, but good enough to make the points they want to make. The rest is neatly wrapped up and the list plays quite an important role.

I thanked my coach for the recommendation; though I’ve seen countless films, I have rarely seen one so effective in the specific point of making most of life at all times as this one does. Ironic, right?, for a film that I’m criticizing in a rather murky light. I need to be objective, but I can’t deny the aftertaste is awesome.

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Other reviews of The Bucket List (2007): Morris