Reiner does a few things with a sure hand. In general, the light is golden, the mood technologically sublime, the actuality of the experience a dead zero. They visit the glamour spots-the Himalayas, Hong Kong, the pyramids, the South of France, the Taj Mahal, and the African savanna, where the terrain bursts with enough digital zebras to freeze a supercomputer.
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On an empty racetrack, they play bumper cars with a pair of Shelby GT350s. Cheeks flattened by the wind, they jump out of airplanes. Determined to find what is missing in their lives, the two geezers write down a series of wild-and-crazy things to do using Nicholson’s money. Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman in Rob Reiner’s “The Bucket List.” BARRY BLITTĪfter some fairly grim scenes at a Los Angeles hospital, where the men meet, “The Bucket List” turns into a globe-trotting tour disguised as a search for enlightenment. But no such luck: Reiner’s Hollywood heart is too pure for mischief. The picture might have been better if the filmmakers had played around with the actors a bit-reversed the roles, for instance, so that Nicholson, rather than Freeman, unfurled the fortune-cookie wisdom about bringing joy to other people before you die, and Freeman, rather than Nicholson, snarled that money is the only thing that matters in a rotten world. I omit the character names because the two stars are doing what they’ve done a great deal of recently, and they’re drawing on the audience’s feelings for them. Nicholson is bulge-eyed, heavy-bellied, and super-emphatic Freeman is wise, baritonal, and eloquent. Jack Nicholson plays a crass and rancorous billionaire, and Morgan Freeman an intellectual who was forced by family obligations to become an auto mechanic.
THE BUCKET LIST FILM MOVIE
(Todd McCarthy, in Variety, called the movie “ ‘Ikiru’ for meatheads.”) “The Bucket List,” which was written by Justin Zackham and directed by Rob Reiner, seems to have been created by applying algorithms to sentiment. I know I’m not a good enough person to pass the test, but I’m not sure anyone else is, either. “The Bucket List,” a comedy about two terminal-cancer patients living it up, severely tests one’s critical compassion.
![the bucket list film the bucket list film](https://static.stereogum.com/uploads/2011/03/the_list.jpg)
THE BUCKET LIST FILM CRACKED
The holidays are over, and it’s time to sweep up the sticky pine needles, cracked ornaments, and occasional twirled bits of pretty ribbon that have gathered under the tree.