“A rarity and a gem...Hollywood Elsewhere is the first thing I go to every morning.” —Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

Reiner's "Bucket" in December

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on August 13, 2007 at 09:49 AM

The Envelope's Tom O'Neil is reporting that Rob Reiner's The Bucket List, a road-movie dramedy about a couple of old-guy cancer patients (Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman) who escape from a medical clinic so they can do this and that before succumbing to the Big Sleep, will open on 12.25. In fact a Warner Bros. publicist confided this decision about ten days ago to a friend. So obviously notions of Nicholson or Freeman (or both) being in the Oscar nominee game are now within the realm.

An Oscar-bait drama about cancer patients going on their last round-up, a December 25th platform release with a wide January break to follow, Nicholson and Freeman, inevitable applications of sentimentality, etc. If I were Reiner I would go with just one of the guys departing in the third act (or the end of the second act), but that's me.

An AICN review of an early screening says that Jack and Morgan's last joyride includes "skydiving, visiting the pyramids, hunting big game in Africa and riding a motorcycle down the Great Wall of China. The funny thing is that for a movie about dying, it's really funny. [My girlfriend and I] both laughed pretty much all the way though, and she cried a whole bunch (okay, I might have cried a little). This is definitely a tear-jerker and though there are parts that crush you, you're laughing at the same time. All in all, the feeling of the film is really uplifting and hopeful."

He adds that Nicholson and Freeman are "amazing" and "shoo-ins" for Oscar consideration.

Of course, this was just written by "some guy" so take it with a grain of salt. On top of which there are always matters of concern with Reiner at the helm. His last hit (the decently made The American President) was twelve years ago. His last film, Rumor Has It, was thrown together on the fly so a little slack is in order, but it was still somewhere between inert and dreadful. Alex & Emma ('03), The Story of Us ('99) and Ghosts of Mississippi ('96) were movies to nod out by.

How does the director of A Few Good Men, The Princess Bride, Misery, When Harry Met Sally, Stand By Me and This Is Spinal Tap unlearn good instincts and good judgment? Beats me, but the last twelve years are the last twelve years.

My other beef is that Nicholson looks too well fed to be a cancer patient who's been told his condition is terminal. I have some personal experience with this, and the closer you are to the end the thinner you tend to be. Even cancer copers with another year to go tend to look a little bit drawn and under-fed. I obviously haven't seen the film, but I'd respect Nicholson's performance a bit more if he'd mustered the discipline to forsake his lavish foodie lifestyle in order to drop 20 or 30 pounds instead of just shaving his head.

Comments

That sure is a terrible title. Still, you couldn't really get a much better duo. By the way I happen to think of THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT as a classic, if very old-fashioned, with probably Sorkin's best feature film script. GHOSTS OF MISSISSIPPI is worthwhile for James Woods and one classic beat when William H. Macy offers Baldwin one of the several guns attached to his person in random places. Baldwin's expression could only be described as a Jack Donaghy look.

Seriously though, what happened to the Reiner who made THIS IS SPINAL TAP, THE PRINCESS BRIDE and WHEN HARRY MET SALLY...?

Posted by: BurmaShave at August 13, 2007 12:00 PM

Nicholson looks like he's gained a few more pounds since The Departed. And Jeff is correct about people looking thin when the 1 year countdown clock starts.

I also like the idea of just one of these guys kicking the bucket on screen.

Posted by: Geoff at August 13, 2007 12:07 PM

Aw, I was kind of looking forward to a year without Nicholson in the mix. Don't get me wrong: he's a great talent, worthy of most of his kudos, but he's also the type of looming presence that tends to overshadow breakthrough, risky, or offbeat performances that are really deserving.

Posted by: nycfilmguy28 at August 13, 2007 12:14 PM

Oh also THE SURE THING, for my mind the best of Cusack's teen comedies. (I never cared for SAY ANYTHING very much. Sue/bite me.)

Posted by: BurmaShave at August 13, 2007 12:23 PM

V-I-A-G-A-R-A grrrr.

Posted by: T. Holly at August 13, 2007 12:23 PM

Jeffrey asked:
How does the director of A Few Good Men, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally and This Is Spinal Tap unlearn good instincts and good judgment? Beats me, but the last twelve years are the last twelve years.

Don't forget MISERY.

Posted by: Terry McCarty at August 13, 2007 12:24 PM

The defense department is after Reiner's secret, how does he make bombs?! U N R E L I A B L E...

Posted by: buckzollo at August 13, 2007 12:56 PM

Reiner is one of, if not the greatest, flame out ever in my mind. To have five classic, or near classic, movies right out the gate is almost unheard of. Then he ran smack dab into "North" and never really bounced back. Aside from the brief blip of competence he showed with "President", he's been long gone. His films have become not just average or uninspired, but grating, insulting and just plain rotten.

Posted by: Undercover Brother at August 13, 2007 12:59 PM

And Stand by Me.

Posted by: Rich S. at August 13, 2007 01:03 PM

The only reason I watch A Few Good Men is for Nicholson. So that means roughly about 15-20 minutes of solid entertainment. As for the rest...meh.

And Misery is a very good film, and a pretty solid adaptation.

Posted by: Geoff at August 13, 2007 01:14 PM

Jack Nicholson is and always was a lazy actor. But it has to be difficult to look like you have cancer (and Jack looks the exact opposite) when you're smoking 12 doobies a day.

Posted by: MilkMan at August 13, 2007 01:19 PM

"The funny thing is that for a movie about dying, it's really funny."

Wow, it will be warm and cute and uplifting. Shocker. God forbid someone makes a movie about death that's depressing.

Do you think, during the motorcycle scene, that one of them goes "whooooaaaa!" or "oh, shiiiiiit!" in a big, slo-mo closeup?

And if Jack won't lay off the fois gras, can't they digitally skinny him down?

Posted by: frankbooth at August 13, 2007 01:24 PM

btw, has anyone here seen Reiner's bit as the modern-day Marty DiBergi on the Spinal Tap DVD? His bitterness at his career slump is ostensibly in character, but it feels like the real thing to me. I found it uncomfortable to watch.

Posted by: frankbooth at August 13, 2007 01:29 PM

Reiner had six near-perfect films in a row - This Is Spinal Tap, The Sure Thing, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally... and Misery, and A Few Good Men and The American President were solid as well (if overrated.)

The drop-off is just astounding. None of his films since have shown a fraction of the wit, the depth or the heart. I'm hoping The Bucket List can be a return to form, but it's feeling a little too Patch Adams-ish for my tastes.

Posted by: Josh Massey at August 13, 2007 01:41 PM

jack and morgan will bring in buckets of money...end of story.

Posted by: starfunker at August 13, 2007 01:47 PM

The reason SPINAL TAP is great and those Christopher Guest movies lose their charm after 5 minutes is Rob Reiner.

Posted by: GeorgePrager at August 13, 2007 01:55 PM

jesus, you guys are a bunch of wankers. so he's made a few bad films. his run of 8 is more than most get anywhere wil ever get.

leave him be and go make 8 massive movies in row. then come back and complain.

Posted by: sweet_billy at August 13, 2007 01:59 PM

As someone who has actually seen the film in question, it will do nothing to change your opinion about Reiner's downward spiral over the last decade.

The first twenty to thirty minutes are decent enough, but very pat. Nicholson plays a billionaire trying to shut down the hospital where middle-class mechanic Morgan Freeman is dying of cancer. Nicholson also contracts cancer and, due to a set of circumstances that only occur in contrived screenplays, is forced to share the same room with Freeman. After the mandatory "rich-asshole-who-learns-to-be-human-through-the-transforming-powers-of-cancer" scenes, the two bond and decide to spend what time they have left traveling the world.

Despite an incredibly obvious set-up, this could have been a good movie. That is, if anyone bothered to step outside their comfort zone and take a risk. But, no such luck. Jack is Jack. Morgan Freeman is the noble working man who sacrificed his own dreams to raise his children and has become estranged from his wife. In a daring directorial choice, Reiner has Freeman narrate the movie.

Most damaging, however, is the decision to not actually film any of the world's most famous cities on location. Instead, all the destinations are realized through visual effects, which range from passable to um...less than convincing. This has the unfortunate effect of turning the story into a fairy tale (think NORTH, but with cancer).

Ultimately, what really rubbed me the wrong way about THE BUCKET LIST is that it felt a recipe for Oscar nominations. Take two of our most beloved and famous actors, one formerly-talented director, mix with cancer and serve. I sincerely hope that no one takes the bait.

Posted by: Aunt Sassy at August 13, 2007 02:18 PM

sweet_billy is that you Martin Shafer? Who else would be such an obvious apologist for Reiner's streak of dreck. I love Meathead, hell I love half a dozen of Reiner's movies. Or I should say I still love half a dozen so of his flicks despite having witnessed him squander scripts, talent money,etc. especially over his tenure as an executive/director at Castle Rock. I fail to your british accent point.

Posted by: buckzollo at August 13, 2007 02:22 PM

sweet_billy is that you Martin Shafer? Who else would be such an obvious apologist for Reiner's streak of dreck. I love Meathead, hell I love half a dozen of Reiner's movies. Or I should say I still love half a dozen or so of his flicks despite having witnessed him squander scripts, talent, money, etc. especially over his tenure as an executive/director at Castle Rock. I fail to see your british accent point.

Posted by: buckzollo at August 13, 2007 02:24 PM

Is Reiner's creative nosedive worse than George Lucas'? I wonder if Reiner's focus on politics has been a contributing factor. He might have come to take himself too seriously.

Posted by: PerfectTommy at August 13, 2007 02:57 PM

Aunt Sassy wrote:
"think NORTH, but with cancer"

I really hope they use that as a pull-quote on the poster.

Posted by: TheJeff at August 13, 2007 03:08 PM

i think reiner's only made one genuine classic, SPINAL TAP. i think he has a gift for a certain kind of comedy that is not always filmic. i hated WHEN WOODY MET ANNIE because well, it's for people who hate woody movies who've never seen one. i never liked STAND BY ME because i didn't buy any of the kids. i love THE SURE THING. have never cared for PRINCESS BRIDE tho it has terrific moments.

i just never found reiner to have any visual style or pov, somewhat like his dad's films.

in the end, depends on the script. as usual.

Posted by: christian at August 13, 2007 03:18 PM

Christian's nailed it. Harry and Sally is competent, but its a pretty transparent rip off of a movie that didn't enjoy half of the dividends of the Reiner/Crystal film, and that's a bit irritating. Princess Bride is overrated, as is Stand By Me, as Christian said, never bought the kids, though that film distinguishes itself by being the only R-rates childrens film ever made.

A Few Good Men is a cracker jack crowd pleaser, ditto Misery and The American President is, in my humble opinion, wildly UNDER rated, I think its Reiner's best film and the only modern approximation of Capra that's worth a damn. Also stands along Sports Night as Sorkin's best 120+ minutes.

Posted by: The Movie Man at August 13, 2007 04:38 PM

I totally agree with the last two posts. Reiner is a competent filmmaker at best, but it's absurd to look at his body of work and even consider using the word "classic." I think Wells is cutting him some serious slack and ignoring what a manipulative hack he can be. In particular, the fact that A Few Good Men was a best picture nominee speaks volumes about how the Academy tends to favor glossy, star-powered, unchallenging movies when they decide to vote. The final courtroom scene was ridiculous and borderline embarassing ("You're going to jail, you son of a bitch!").

Posted by: Dzayson at August 13, 2007 08:05 PM

I won't deny how enjoyable watching the courtroom scenes in A Few Good Men were the first time around, but subsequent viewings do show how embarassing some are, as stated above. On top of that, they're so far from realistic it's hard to watch and take seriously. Not that most courtroom dramas are, but I think The Rainmaker was more legit in that respect.

Posted by: lazarus at August 13, 2007 10:01 PM

Wells to Sassy: "North" with cancer? Hilarious. Stake in the heart.

Posted by: gruver1 at August 14, 2007 12:20 AM

He's no Speilberg, and not even Zemeckis, but pre-slump I'd have put him on par with Ron Howard. It's just a shame to see him turn out dreck like THE STORY OF US, ALEX & EMMA, and RUMOR HAS IT...

Speaking of dreck and Morgan Freeman, why did THE CONTRACT never see the theatrical light of day? How bad is it? Skip?

Posted by: BurmaShave at August 14, 2007 12:23 AM

There are obviously Woodesque elements to WHEN HARRY MET SALLY though I'd say those are more attributable to Ephron than Reiner.

It's hard to say it's a rip off of ANNIE HALL given the sheer ingenuity of Annie Hall (the structure of the timeline, the animated sequence, the fourth wall stuff etc etc) and that the two movies have entirely different premises: In one the couple can't see that they are meant to be together and in the other they are not.

Anyway - Spinal Tap is a stone classic.
I don't understand how you can not "buy the kids" in Stand by Me which may not be a "classic" but it's at the top of the movies that aren't. Ditto for Princess Bride, IMHO. Neither has aged at all.
People need to remember how few Stephen King adaptations actually worked (including The Shining) before Rob Reiner did Stand by Me and Misery. After that Darabont picked up the torch.

American President is a great, li'l feel good movie and fun to watch if for no other reason than that it reads like an Alternate Universe version of the West Wing. You have to remind yourself that Douglas is playing Martin Sheen who is playing John Spencer's role etc etc.

A Few Good Men is not a bad movie and it's one of those ones I'll watch to the end once I flick across it on TV. Cruise is chewing scenery like he does and Nicholson is doing the same and somehow it just works on that level. (Nothing compares to the Ben Stiller Show version of the courtroom scene where it's Boy Scouts instead of Marines: "We live in a world with knots...who's gonna tie those knots? You?!"

There has always been a commercial veneer to Reiner's work so maybe he is not one of the Great Directors but he has done enough Very Good Movies to be worthy of some props.

(And I always like the Godfather II bit in North...)

Posted by: DavidF at August 14, 2007 08:30 AM

This movie sounds awful. It sounds like a fake movie you'd see in Seinfeld or Extras.

Posted by: Bocephus at August 14, 2007 08:39 AM

Posted by: kimi98 at January 12, 2008 10:09 AM

Inside Elsewhere...

The Barenaked Critic

Michelle discovers a couple of comedy films thanks to the power of Netflix.

The Silver Spotlight

Adam joins the Elsewhere crew from the Windy City and hits the ground running this week.

Essentials

Ain't It Cool News

Anne Thompson/Thompson on Hollywood

Coming Attractions/Corona

Coming Soon/Film Database

Coming Soon / Release Dates

The Envelope (L.A. Times Oscar site)

Guardian Unlimited (U.K.)

Hollywood Bitchslap

Hollywood Interrupted

Hollywood Reporter

Hollywood Wiretap

Int'l Herald Tribune

Internet Movie Database

L.A. Daily News

Movie City News

Movie Poop Shoot

Movie Review Query Engine

National Enquirer

New York Press/Armond White & Matt Zoller Seitz

New York Daily News

New York Post

New York Times

New Yorker (Denby, Lane)

Radar Online/Fresh Intelligence

Risky Business

Red Carpet (New York Times Oscar blog)

The Hollywood Interview

Variety

Upcoming Movies/ Greg Dean Schmitz

Yahoo showbiz news/gossip

Eye-Openers

Upcoming

July 2

Hancock

July 3

The Whackness

July 4

Diminished Capacity

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson

Holding Trevor

Kabluey

We are Together

July 9

Full Battle Rattle

July 11

A Man Named Pearl

August

Eight Miles High

Garden Party

Harold

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Journey to the Center of the Earth

Meet Dave

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

The Stone Angel

July 18

A Very British Gangster

Before I Forget

The Dark Knight

The Doorman

Felon

Lou Reed's Berlin

Transsiberian

July 22

Two Tickets to Paradise

July 23

Boy A

Reiner's "Bucket" in December

Comments

Post a Comment

Recent Columns

Inside Elsewhere...

Essentials

Eye-Openers

Upcoming