STUDIO: Warner Home Video
RELEASE DATE: June 10, 2008
STARRING: Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman, Sean Hayes, Beverly Todd and Rob Morrow
WRITTEN BY: Justin Zackham
DIRECTED BY: Rob Reiner
FEATURES: “Writing a Bucket List” featurette with Screenwriter Justin Zackham
John Mayer’s “Say” Music Video
DVD-ROM Weblink to Online Features

If nothing else, The Bucket List can be credited with popularizing the eponymous phrase. Prior to seeing the trailers for this movie, I’d never heard the term before. Apparently, a “bucket list” is simply a list of things you hope to do before you “kick the bucket.” We all probably have a mental version of such a list sketched out in our heads, but to add a bit of drama to the concept for the screen, the film’s main characters find out they’re dying and decide to write one out. Director Rob Reiner seemed to think that this premise was worth wrangling up two of Hollywood’s most likable, aging actors, Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. He is, of course, mistaken.

Edward Cole and Carter Chambers (Nicholson and Freeman, respectively) are two strangers, sharing a hospital room and diagnosed with terminal illnesses. Since the movie eventually evolves into a “buddy / road” picture, their characters must exist as polar opposites: Cole is a lonely, cantankerous billionaire and coincidentally, the hospital’s owner, while Chambers is a gentler, simpler man, intelligent enough to answer all the questions on “Jeopardy,” but stuck in a lifetime of fixing cars, in order to provide for his family. Their friendship, predictably, gets off to a rocky start. But soon, the two find themselves collaborate on a joint “bucket list”, jotting down a few specific goals, such as “Drive a Shelby Mustang” and “See the pyramids,” plus a few more ambiguous aims, such as “Witness something truly majestic” and “Kiss the most beautiful girl in the world.” Shortly, the fellas are discharged and back on their feet (did I mention that their diseases are asymptomatic?) and with Cole’s money to burn, they set out to live their remaining days to the fullest.

On the Internet Movie Database’s “trivia” listing for this The Bucket List, it mentions that screenwriter Justin Zackham “finished the script in just two weeks.” Good for him. Bad for us. It’s not that I expect a film like this to be filled with twists and turns; I realize it isn’t a Grisham thriller. But while telegraphed plot points are to be expected, I was disappointed to see each character’s emotional responses to those situations play out so predictably. The screenplay is so concerned with what has to happen to these men - the fact they have to begin at odds, yet grow to become friends and teach one another life lessons - that we’re never really shown who they are. And for the record, beginning the film as one kind of one-dimensional character and later evolving into another, does not constitute a “two-dimensional” character.

The movie’s message is a bit confusing as well; while it seemingly begins by trying to inspire us to get out there and live every day as thought it were our last, it later decides that the important things in life are often right beside us (family, friends, etc.) And whenever the film’s themes gets muddy, instead of straightening them out, it resorts to scenes of our protagonists traveling the world, racing sports cars and jumping out of airplanes (all executed, by the way, with a visibly clumsy combination of stunt doubles in exotic locations and stars in front of blue screens). And though watching two pros such as Nicholson and Freeman interact is always going to be at least somewhat entertaining, there’s a pervasive feeling that everyone involved is “coasting” through a story that definitely could’ve used some gravity and urgency.

As for the DVD extras, there are virtually none to speak of. The film feels somewhat tossed together, so I suppose I shouldn’t be shocked. And considering its likely target demographic is the geriatric population, there probably isn’t much demand for the kind of behind-the-scenes stuff that excites film geeks. Neither Reiner nor any of the film’s stars could be bothered to provide audio commentary. Instead, we’re left with a short featurette in which scenes from the film we just watched are interspersed with Zackham telling us about the genesis of the story: his very own bucket list (who’d have guessed?) There’s also a John Mayer music video (again, full of footage we just saw). The tune is catchy, repetitive and lyrically vague, so I’m a little surprised it wasn’t a hit for Mayer. But the fact that I even have enough space here to discuss that tells you how sparse this DVD’s offerings are. There’s also a weblink that supposedly takes you to some online features, but I certainly couldn’t get it to work. Admittedly, I only tried for about 3 minutes, since I’m guessing it’s a probably just a screensaver of Nicholson and Freeman skydiving. But hey - if the mere thought of that image makes you smile (as I imagine it did the folks behind this movie, when they first decided to make it), then The Bucket List may just hold some enjoyment for you yet. But as far as I was concerned, the movie’s blunt efforts to remind me of life’s preciousness only served to get me wondering why I wasn’t watching something better.