"Bucket" stare
I've watched a DVD screener of Rob Reiner's The Bucket List (Warner Bros., 12.25) three times over the last week and a half -- once for my own reasons, and the other two times to show it to friends. Nobody liked it very much. A director friend called it "a lazy, complacent old man's film." That's pretty close to my reaction. It's a mild-mannered movie about dying from cancer -- not awful or painful but nothing all that special.
Fox 411's Roger Friedman recently called it the "downer movie of the year." Not really -- it just has tired blood.
I have to get back on the Mass Pike again and head for Syracuse, but allow me to impart two things before leaving. One, the above shot is an fair approximation of my own facial expression as I watched The Bucket List. And two, here's the best line in the entire film -- spoken by a bed-ridden Jack Nicholson to a bed-ridden Morgan Freeman right after Freeman's "wife" has left their joint hospital room.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on December 14, 2007 at 6:55 AM
comment #1
George Prager
says ...
Sounds like APPLEBEE'S: THE MOVIE.
Posted by George Prager
at December 14, 2007 8:26 AM
comment #2
thatmovieguy
says ...
I had to watch it twice because I dozed off the first time through. Just as I find it hard to imagine anyone over the age of 10 getting excited about ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS, I can't picture anyone under 60 being thrilled by this one. The chemistry between Nicholson and Freeman is enjoyable and there are a few potent lines (or maybe they just sound that way because Nicholson is delivering them), but the story is better-suited to a TV movie of the week. The moral of the story appears to be that if you're stuck in a cut-rate hospital and the sands are running, be sure to get a billionaire as your roommate so that you can enjoy one last, lengthy fling before the pallbearers show up.
Posted by thatmovieguy
at December 14, 2007 8:27 AM
comment #3
Breedlove
says ...
I always thought I loved to watch movies but I'm no match for many on this board, Jeff included. How could you watch a mediocre Rob Reiner piece of pap three times in one week? Damn. That's dedication. Also don't billionaires get their own hospital room?
Posted by Breedlove
at December 14, 2007 8:55 AM
comment #4
jeffmcm
says ...
Not thanks to the magic of....(drum roll)...
Contrivance! (gong)
Posted by jeffmcm
at December 14, 2007 11:28 AM
comment #5
thatmovieguy
says ...
Breedlove: The "kooky" twist is that Nicholson's character is a Crabby Appleton sort owns these half-assed hospitals where patients are basically treated like hotel guests who have asked to stay past check-out time. He has consistently made a point in his speeches to the media that his hospitals are not health spas and that everyone has to share a room. So when he gets sick and wants his own suite, his assistant insists he couldn't possibly do that because it would spell terrible P.R. So Nicholson has to share a room with Freeman -- and wackiness ensues.
Posted by thatmovieguy
at December 14, 2007 12:37 PM
comment #6
abuseintake
says ...
I would love to see Morgan freeman take a detour from the kind, Socratic characters he is always playing and let him into and sink his teeth into a real psycho. I think he might be a little old, but I would love to see him play John Africa in a film about M.O.V.E circa 1985.
Posted by abuseintake
at December 14, 2007 12:54 PM
comment #7
Craig Kennedy
says ...
So what you're suggesting by that image Wells is that Bucket List actually opened your mind and propelled you simultaneously into yourself and across the space/time continuum to emerge on the other side reborn a higher form of being?
Wow. Who knew that Reiner had it in him.
Posted by Craig Kennedy
at December 14, 2007 1:54 PM
comment #8
George Prager
says ...
Geriatric Bukkake
Posted by George Prager
at December 14, 2007 3:46 PM
comment #9
jeffmcm
says ...
Abuseintake: I recommend you see Dreamcatcher. Freeman plays his version of a Dr. Strangelove character.
Posted by jeffmcm
at December 14, 2007 4:04 PM
comment #10
BurmaShave
says ...
I honestly forget whether or not he died at the end of STREET SMART, but I'd love to see Fast Black out of the joint as a mean old man, or a variation thereof.
Posted by BurmaShave
at December 14, 2007 4:34 PM
comment #11
EOTW
says ...
He also played against type in NURSE BETTY, playing a hitman. Although, he did kinda have a change of heart, so maybe that doesn't count.
Posted by EOTW
at December 14, 2007 5:52 PM
comment #12
Dravot
says ...
Let me get this straight: you sat through THE BUCKET LIST *three times*, but you don't want to see INDIANA JONES IV at all. Got it.
Posted by Dravot
at December 14, 2007 10:04 PM
comment #13
BurmaShave
says ...
Like I said in another thread, I wish Reiner had directed THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE and Bier had directed THE BUCKET LIST. That way Bier's crazy photography wouldn't grate on me while Del Toro gives a great performance in a treacly script, and there'd be no CGI nonsense in BUCKET.
Posted by BurmaShave
at December 14, 2007 11:20 PM