"When he died his eyes were closed ... but his heart was open."
Movie Reviewer, A Big Giant Sap, a storyteller
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JAN
13
2008
The Bucket List —
Spending some time discussing cancer in our family, with my daughter's 6th grade classmate leaving school because of Hodgkin's, and my son doing a lesson in Biology on cancer, it caused me to spell out for them all the people they have known in their lives that have had cancer, both those that have survived and those that have lost the battle. The list was so numerous, it was surprising. Now, seeing The Bucket List, a movie about two men with cancer facing their own mortality, it makes me sit back and think.Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman play Edward and Carter, respectively, and they're somewhat like The Odd Couple of the Oncology wing of the hospital, but for the fact they aren't opposite as far as cleanliness vs. sloppiness, but more optimistic vs. pessimistic. While Edward is acerbic, complaining about every moment spent in the hospital, he's the one that runs it. He owns several hospitals and runs them with completely no frills. Now he begins to regret this. Carter is a little more hardened to this life, having been in and out of the hospital now several times. While his wife is making demands that they get answers from the doctors, he doesn't seem to want to bother them.
After watching each other suffer, both men find out within minutes of each other that their cancers have moved to the terminal stage. The more cerebral Carter, while he had spent 45 years as an auto mechanic, had been in college before his wife got pregnant, on his way to becoming a History professor. He now thinks back to a lesson from his college days, writing down a "Bucket List," things you want to do before you "kick the bucket." His list includes things like "witness something majestic," but Edward takes over the list, and adds things like "skydiving." Carter had only meant the list to be something to help him face his mortality, but Edward insists they join together and actually accomplish the items on the list. They set off on a trip around the world, doing surprising things they missed out in life like getting tattoos, and seeing amazing things like the pyramids.
With two of the greatest actors in our time to take on these roles, it only adds to what is already a great story. Jack Nicholson seems to have the great lines he has in every movie, and while he has some great banter back and forth with Morgan Freeman, explaining life as, "We live, we die, and the wheels on the bus go round and round," some of the best lines are those exchanged with his assistant, played be Sean Hayes. He tells him to plan his funeral as if it were his own, and Hayes' character then wonders if he should leave all his money to his assistant. Wonderful dry humor abounds, no matter who is speaking in the movie.
The two men start this trying to face their mortality, but in the process begin to face the way they have spent their lives, as they both have regrets. While one regrets being a family man and not doing more for himself, the other regrets living his life for himself and not having a family to care about him when he is gone. Morgan Freeman, also acting in the film as narrator suggests, "How do you measure a person's life? ... I believe that you measure yourself by the people who measure themselves by you." If you were to measure your life by the movies you watched, you'd want The Bucket List to be one of them.
Last edited on Jan 13, 2008
The Bucket List is recommended by LauraBelle
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