The Bucket List

I'm really behind in seeing this movie, and I think it's actually been playing in a local theater for weeks and weeks, but we missed the showing of Spiderwick Chronicles, and the other options this weekend weren't good locally (I'm not a fan of horror), so The Bucket List was it. And for good entertainment, it hit the spot. Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman do a great job fighting and traveling and philosophizing about death. They're both handed a sentence of a few months to live, and Freeman starts writing a "bucket list" to record what he might want to do before he "kicks the bucket". Nicholson jumps on board, and luckily comes with the money, private jet, and personal assistant to do almost anything. They put some obscure things on the list (like observe something majestic) but also lots of easy to check of off kinds of things - get a tattoo and sky dive. The rest of the movie is them traveling around the world doing all kinds of things, and luckily deciding NOT to do some things - like hunting a big cat. I thought their dialogue was fun and witty, and it was the first movie where the co-stars could really hold their own against each other. Nicholson seemed on edge and unsure of how Freeman will respond, but it makes their characters more believable. Nicholson owns a huge company and has always been deferred to on everything, and while Freeman was a mechanic for 45 years (which they repeat a little too often) his "death sentence" has given him the freedom to do whatever he wants, including leaving his family to experience some of life he gave up for the family. It's a cute movie, with obviously sad overtones, but you can't really predict where it will all go. It's definitely cheesy, but for pure entertainment, it works really well. 4 of 5 stars.