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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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81 - 100 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >> >|
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It’s safety-first adventuring and safety-first filmmaking, both of which should be mortal sins.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
01/11/08
Josh Rosenblatt
Josh Rosenblatt
Austin Chronicle

It's impossible to mistake the movie for inspired.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
01/11/08
Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris
Boston Globe

The irony of it all, considering the message of The Bucket List, is that when the obituaries for all three of these Hollywood legends is written, this film won't even merit a footnote.

Full Review Source: The Deadbolt | comment Comment
01/11/08
Brian Tallerico
Brian Tallerico
The Deadbolt

Cynics who hate life affirming films and moviegoers who would just as soon not see movies about fatal diseases can give this a pass.

Full Review Source: Worcester Telegram & Gazette | comment Comment
01/11/08
Daniel M. Kimmel
Daniel M. Kimmel
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

enjoyable for the most part and touching in others, but nothing surprising or groundbreaking.

Full Review Source: WaffleMovies.com | comment Comment
01/10/08
Willie Waffle
Willie Waffle
WaffleMovies.com

Boomers and older will love it. Others should too.... The plus is it's played out by two terrific actors of our time.

Full Review Source: Video-Reviewmaster.com | comment Comment
01/10/08
Steve Crum
Steve Crum
Video-Reviewmaster.com

It might be a decent movie with very good performances, but it should see a quick box office death.

Full Review Source: Beaumont Journal | comment Comment
01/10/08
Danny Minton
Danny Minton
Beaumont Journal

Dying just seems an excuse for a geriatric, spend-it-all Spring Break.

Full Review Source: Beliefnet | comment Comment
01/10/08
Nell Minow
Nell Minow
Beliefnet

A warning is in order. You may leave the theater with a guilty conscious, having hoped that both of them would just go ahead and die in order to put you out of your misery.

Full Review Source: Internet Reviews | comment 2 Comments
01/10/08
Steve Rhodes
Steve Rhodes
Internet Reviews

The most insipidly innocuous film ever made about facing mortality and living it up before passing away, The Bucket List has as much poetry and poise as its clumsy, clunky title.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
01/10/08
Sean Axmaker
Sean Axmaker
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Reiner cannot reconcile the wildly different tones of the movie: buffoonish comedy one minute, treacly life-and-death melodrama the next.

Full Review Source: EricDSnider.com | comment 1 Comment
01/10/08
Eric D. Snider
Eric D. Snider
EricDSnider.com

Nothing wrong about a movie that says, Stop and smell the roses. Now, if only director Rob Reiner hadn't rubbed our noses in a bouquet of plastic blooms.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | comment 3 Comments
01/10/08
Carrie Rickey
Carrie Rickey
Philadelphia Inquirer

There are big laughs and minor moments of grace in The Bucket List. It's also fun to watch these two swap lines, Nicholson angry and antic, Freeman laid back and serene.

Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | comment Comment
01/10/08
Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel

Great actors sometimes transcend their material, but Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman can't pull their boots free from the ankle-deep schmaltz of The Bucket List.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
01/10/08
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune

...so chock-full of stale homilies and phony self-help foolishness, it makes Mitch Albom look like John Cassavetes.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Weekly | comment Comment
01/10/08
Sean Burns
Sean Burns
Philadelphia Weekly

The overall sense is of a movie coasting on an obvious and somewhat flimsy premise, to which no one thought to bring much else besides Nicholson and Freeman.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
01/10/08
John Anderson
John Anderson
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Thinking about taking a road trip with Nicholson and Freeman sounds like the best thing ever. Perhaps it would have been in a more serious, less light-hearted film.

Full Review Source: Bronsonfive | comment Comment
01/10/08
Michael Ferraro
Michael Ferraro
Bronsonfive

This being Oscar-coveting Hollywood claptrap, class barriers vanish as the two become best friends and Nicholson bankrolls a spree in which they indulge their deepest romantic whims.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
01/10/08
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader

The leads, who were born six weeks apart in 1937, have remarkable hare-and-tortoise chemistry.

Full Review Source: Charlotte Observer | comment Comment
01/10/08
Lawrence Toppman
Lawrence Toppman
Charlotte Observer

The Bucket List must have seemed like a good idea -- around 1985.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
01/10/08
Bill Goodykoontz
Bill Goodykoontz
Arizona Republic
 
 
81 - 100 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >> >|
all

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