25 Mar 2008

The Bucket List

Director: Rob Reiner

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman, Sean Hayes, Rob Morrow

Release: 2008-03-25

You would think that with a director like Rob Reiner (When Harry Met Sally) and actors like Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, you'd get a satisfying drama, wouldn't you? Sadly, that's not the case here.

Jack and Morgan play two old men who discover they have terminal cancer. Morgan starts making a list of things he wants to do before he kicks the bucket, which he calls the "bucket list". When Jack sees this, he suggests they do those very things they've always wanted to do.

So with Jack's money he's filthy rich the two are sky-diving, drag-racing, fine-dining in France, trekking in Tibet, vacationing in Africa, India and Egypt. And in the course of their adventures, they find out what life is really about...

As a film, The Bucket List simply doesn't make sense. Anyone with the money to do all the things these men get to do would proudly proclaim they've lived life too. But what about those of us who don't have that kind of money? Are we destined never to find Enlightenment? Are poor people deprived from finding the joys of life?

Sadly, The Bucket List is just a bucketful of corn and cliches.