The Bucket List
starring Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman, Sean Hayes and Rob Morrow
written by Justin Zackham
directed by Rob Reiner
Jack Nicholson is getting old. He’s an old man for sure, with the old man’s gut to prove it. And, he’s not the lady’s man that he used to be, but he’s still one hell of an actor. Nicholson plays a millionaire entrepreneur diagnosed with terminal cancer who meets up with a garage mechanic (Morgan Freeman) suffering a similar diagnosis. The two meet in a shared hospital room in a hospital owned by Nicholson. Together they forge a “bucket list,” a list of things they want to do before they kick the bucket: skydive, get tattoos, drive racing cars, see the Egyptian pyramids, climb the Himilayas, etc. And then they set about doing it on an end-of-life Road Trip courtesy of the financial support of Nicholson’s character.
I understand such a thing, because when I was in university I had a list of my own. It contained only three items, taken from the song “Dare” by The Human League off their debut album (in the days when they still made vinyl LP records): “take a trip to the top of the Empire State/take a drive across the Golden Gate/march, march, march across Red Square/do all the things you’ve never dared.” Well, I’ve done two of those things, anyway, plus other interesting things like ride a camel, climb Masada, pray in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, picnic on the Garden of Gesthemene, and cross Canadaand Russiaby train. (One was quite comfortable. The other was not.) But I’m not sure if there is any value in making such a list. What’s the point? Can the measure of a human life be reduced to items on a list? In The Bucket List to two protagonists make their lists when they see the end of their lives coming fast. So that knowledge prejudices their dreams, making them unrepresentative of their true characters. But it’s a great film.