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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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161 - 166 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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Horribly manipulative, heinously written tripe.

Full Review Source: Time Out New York | comment Comment
12/13/07
David Fear
David Fear
Time Out New York

Those expecting acting fireworks or any pleasure from the first teaming of Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman will be disappointed by Reiner's schmaltzy messagy serio-comedy about living life to the fullest.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
12/12/07
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

That director Rob Reiner is often successful in eliminating the too-sweet taste of sentimentality is largely due to a pair of powerhouse performances from Freeman and Nicholson.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
12/12/07
Chad Greene
Chad Greene
Boxoffice Magazine

While it all cuts together to make one swell trailer, the end product fails to take flight.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
12/12/07
Michael Rechtshaffen
Michael Rechtshaffen
Hollywood Reporter

A picture about two cancer patients confronting reality, and deciding how they want to spend their presumed last days, that has not an ounce of reality about it.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
12/12/07
Todd McCarthy
Todd McCarthy
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The greater your capacity for the sentimentality factor, the quicker it will cling to your heartstrings. For the less inclined, it's an interesting primer on your values and options when you're facing mortality.

Full Review Source: Cinema Signals | comment Comment
11/20/07
Jules Brenner
Jules Brenner
Cinema Signals
 
 
161 - 166 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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