“Relatively soon, I will die. Maybe in 20 years, maybe tomorrow, it doesn't matter. Once I am dead and everyone who knew me dies too, it will be as though I never existed. What difference has my life made to anyone. None that I can think of. None at all.”
-- Warren Schmidt from About Schmidt
The latest issue of The Atlantic Monthly features an article written by Megan McArdle concerning the arrival of America’s Silver Age. The article is about the beginning of the long heralded Baby Boomer Retirement Era. It is a very informative article that details exactly how this will affect the whole country. The Baby Boomer demographic is important for everyone. Hollywood has not lost sight of this age group with such films as The Boynton Beach Club and Wild Hogs. Rob Reiner’s The Bucket List is the newest entry in this category. The Bucket List is a chance to see two of the finest actors work together-- Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. I wish I could say that this pairing works and works well, but sadly the script keeps the film grounded in clichés. The screenplay has a vending machine quality to it. The material is beneath both of its lead actors. It is very painful to write that last line. It always pains me to see such great actors in such mediocre films.
The Bucket List is simply about two terminally ill men who decide to make the most out of their remaining time. Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) is a successful, self-made businessman who has worked hard his whole life to create a successful hospital corporation. Cole is on top of the world when he is diagnosed with cancer. Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) has been an automobile mechanic for his entire life who has an encyclopedic knowledge of trivia. He is working in his garage and answering a series of trivia questions from a younger co-worker when he gets a phone call with the worst news in the world-- he has cancer. Edward Cole ends up sharing the same room as Carter much to Cole’s dismay. Cole’s hospital system is based on a simple creed of two beds per room. He “runs hospitals, not health spas. Two beds to a room, no exceptions.” He has to eat his own words. At first he cannot accept his fate. Neither one of them can, but reality sets in. Carter has been writing things on a list. He throws it out one night, but Cole finds it on the floor. It is a bucket list-- things to do in life before one kicks the bucket as it were. The second half of the film is all of the male bonding episodes we see in the trailer-- sky diving, auto racing and so on. This is a chance for these two men to become close friends. Each of them wants to do as much living before the inevitable end.
I really wished that this film had worked. Is it a horrible film? No, but sadly it is not as good as it could have been. It reminds me of the 1984 film, City Heat. At the time, this film was a big deal because of the two lead actors, Burt Reynolds and Clint Eastwood. Despite their presence, the film never worked as well as it should have. The same thing applies to The Bucket List. The idea of having Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman in the same film must have looked great on paper. The problem is that I expect a great deal from both these actors. The film has a made for television aspect that is hard to get away from at times. The film’s trailer gives away the whole film. Honestly, you do not have to be Sam Spade to figure out how this film is going to end. Watching it, I felt the film would have worked better if it were Jack Nicholson and his old friend, Warren Beatty. The two of them worked very well in the Mike Nichols film, The Fortune. That would have been an interesting pairing. I have always believed that Jack Nicholson would have been a better choice than Garry Shandling in the ill-fated Town and Country-- a disaster of a film that seemed more at home in the 1970’s than 2001. Still, Nicholson might have helped the film rise above its many shortcomings. Nicholson played this role much better in Alexander Payne’s About Schmidt. Never mind that the film was a water downed version of Louis Begley’s novel, Jack Nicholson did a very good job of bringing that character to life. On Morgan Freeman’s end, I think it would have worked much better with Clint Eastwood. They worked so well together in Million Dollar Baby. In a film like this, the two of them might have worked a lot better. While I think Jack Nicholson is fine as Edward Cole, I think there is something denigrating about Morgan Freeman’s character in the film. He is a truly great actor. He can do anything-- just watch him in Gone Baby Gone for a different type of role. The role of Carter Chambers seems very beneath him.
The main problem with the film is that I think the wrong Reiner directed the film. Look, I think Rob Reiner is an excellent director. This Is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, A Few Good Men, Stand By Me, Misery and The American President are very good films. Rob Reiner is a very good director, but I think he was not the right man for the job. His father is better suited for the material. I think Carl Reiner could have done wonders with this film. He might have thrown out Justin Zackham’s script and started from scratch. Granted he has not directed a film since That Old Feeling, I think he might have had a better idea how to handle the material and present it in a fresh way. The films he directed for Steve Martin such as The Jerk, The Man with Two Brains, Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid and All of Me represented a comic genius at the height of his powers. Carl Reiner would be my first choice, but I think Mike Nichols or Bob Rafelson could have shaped this film into something more memorable. With the exception of Man Trouble, Bob Rafelson and Jack Nicholson have worked very well together. Rafelson got some awesome performances out of Jack Nicholson; especially in Five Easy Pieces and The King Of Marvin Gardens; Mike Nichols has also directed Jack Nicholson in many films. The Fortune, Heartburn, Carnal Knowledge and even Wolf display the strengths of their enduring working relationship. Rafelson and Nichols could have turned this into a film to remember. As it stands, The Bucket List is a series of missed opportunities and tired storytelling. Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman deserve better. The Baby Boomers deserve better. The Bucket List is spectacularly average, when it could have been so much more.
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