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Movies / Upcoming / The Bucket List
The Bucket List

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The Bucket List (2007)

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Reviews Counted:160

Fresh:67

Rotten:93

Average Rating:5.2/10

Consensus: Not even the earnest performances of the two leads can rescue The Bucket List from its schmaltzy script.

Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins

Genre: Comedies

US Box Office: $93,452,056

Synopsis: Academy Award winners Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman star in the comedy drama "The Bucket List," directed by Rob Reiner, a touching, no-holds-barred adventure that shows it's never too late to... Academy Award winners Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman star in the comedy drama "The Bucket List," directed by Rob Reiner, a touching, no-holds-barred adventure that shows it's never too late to live life to its fullest. A long time ago, Carter Chambers' (Morgan Freeman) freshman year philosophy professor suggested that his students compose a "bucket list," a collection of all the things they wanted to do, see and experience in life before they kicked the bucket. But while Carter was still trying to define his private dreams and plans, reality intruded. Marriage, children, myriad responsibilities and, ultimately, a 46-year job as an auto mechanic gradually turned his concept of a bucket list into little more than a bittersweet memory of lost opportunities and a mental exercise he occasionally thought about to pass the time while working under the hood of a car. Meanwhile, corporate billionaire Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) never saw a list without a bottom line. He was always too busy making money and building an empire to think about what his deeper needs might be beyond the next big acquisition or cup of gourmet coffee. Then life delivered an urgent and unexpected wake-up call to both of them. Carter and Edward found themselves sharing a hospital room with plenty of time to think about what might happen next--and about how much of that was in their hands. For all their apparent differences, they soon discovered they had two very important things in common: an unrealized need to come to terms with who they were and the choices they'd made, and a pressing desire to spend the time they had left doing everything they ever wanted to do. The list wasn't just a mental exercise anymore. It was an agenda. So, against doctor's orders and all good sense, these two virtual strangers check themselves out of the hospital and hit the road together for the adventure of a lifetime--from the Taj Mahal to the Serengeti, the finest restaurants to the seediest tattoo parlors, the cockpit of vintage race cars to the open door of a prop plane--with just a sheet of paper and their passion for life to guide them. Adding and crossing items off their list while taking in the grandeur and beauty of the world, they will grapple with the difficult questions and the even more difficult answers that plague all of us. And, without even realizing it, become true friends. With humor, insight, heart...and a fair amount of attitude. Sometimes you just need a deadline to get your life in gear. --© Warner Bros. [More]

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

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

Director: Rob Reiner

Director: Rob Reiner
Screenwriter: Justin Zackham
Producer: Alan Greisman, Rob Reiner, Craig Zadan, Neil Meron
Composer: Marc Shaiman
Studio: Warner Bros.

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Reviews for The Bucket List

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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Reviews
Tomatometer Critic Review Category
tomato

Urban Cinefile Critics

This rather special film is one about mortality and immortality and guarantees both laughter and tears. Of course, the combination of Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman is special in itself

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Feb., 14 2008 09:12 PM

Urban Cinefile

tomato
2.5/4

Mike Scott

A modestly uplifting, and at-times poignant, buddy comedy that manages to make the most of the worst of situations.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 14 2009 07:17 AM

Times-Picayune

splat
5/10

JimmyO

...contrived and forced, almost begging the audience to pull out the hankie.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Feb., 12 2009 05:42 PM

JoBlo's Movie Emporium

tomato
4/5

Jolene Mendez

An endearing film that will bring you to tears and have you cherishing every relationship and day you have.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jan., 05 2009 07:19 PM

Entertainment Spectrum

tomato
2.5/4

David Nusair

...a hopelessly uneven endeavor that's ultimately felled by a lamentable emphasis on heavy-handed bursts of schmaltziness.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Dec., 20 2008 05:33 AM

Reel Film Reviews

N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 18 2008 08:59 AM

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 18 2008 08:59 AM

Screen International

N/R

Xan Brooks

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 18 2008 08:59 AM

Guardian [UK]

splat
C

Gary Thompson

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 18 2008 08:59 AM

Philadelphia Daily News

splat
2.5/4

Scott Nash

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 18 2008 08:59 AM

Three Movie Buffs

splat
1.5/4

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 18 2008 08:59 AM

Reel.com

N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 18 2008 08:59 AM

Times [UK]

splat
1.5/4

Austin Kennedy

This movie has the same level of false, mediocre level of entertainment as the movie WILD HOGS. If you liked that one, then you might like this. But I despise both.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 22 2008 01:57 PM

Sin Magazine

tomato
7/10

John J. Puccio

...sentimental, simplistic, and almost shamefully manipulative, yet I found it absolutely charming.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jun., 05 2008 12:30 PM

DVDTown.com

tomato

Prairie Miller

No Grumpy Old Men these two, as Nicholson's over-the hill sex machine billionaire with his serial quickies on demand, and Freeman's egghead underachiever spar with the Grim Reaper. Two Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jun., 05 2008 07:33 AM

NewsBlaze

tomato

Richard Knight

For those who want to Believe, those who want to be cuddled by the fake laughter through tears emotions that only an expertly made piece of Hollywood toffee like this can provide - if only for the moment - get out your hankies.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 22 2008 06:12 PM

Windy City Times

splat
2/5

Alonso Duralde

... plays like Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries, reimagined as an uninspired sitcom and travelogue.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 01 2008 05:31 PM

MSNBC

tomato
B

Robert Roten

An entertaining tear jerker of a story about two old men facing the end of two very different lives.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 16 2008 12:29 PM

Laramie Movie Scope

splat
2.5/4

Rossiter Drake

'The Bucket List' begins with a bleak, unsparing glimpse into the unraveling lives of two terminal-cancer patients and ends in unblushing sentimentality.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Apr., 10 2008 01:37 AM

San Francisco Examiner

splat

Matt Kelemen

doesn't a by-the-numbers Rob Reiner buddy movie about dying just about say it all? This is for the hardcore Nicholson and Freeman fans who don't mind considering the mortality of their idols.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Mar., 17 2008 05:59 PM

Las Vegas CityLife

 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Bubble View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >> >|
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