Review: 'The Bucket List' Drips Sap

"The Bucket List" (PG-13)(out of four)

"The Bucket List" is one of those films where you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll delight in the skills of the actors and the slick Hollywood production, but when it's all said and done, it's just not that memorable.

With that being said, any movie that pairs Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman and directed by Rob Reiner can't be half bad.

Nicholson plays an eccentric billionaire who helps hospitals get out of the red. When he coughs up blood during a courtroom appearance, he is admitted to his own hospital. Although in theory he believes that there should always be two patients to every room, in practice when his character Edward Cole ends up on the other side of the hospital room, he barks loudly about a private room. He his personal assistant, Thomas, (played with reserve by Sean Hayes) bring him foie gras and other billionaire delectables, rather than eat the pea soup his hospital roommate complains about.

The man with the request for better pea soup is Carter Chambers, who, in typical movie fashion, couldn't be more opposite to Cole. He's worked for 40 years as an auto mechanic, been married to the same woman almost as long, and never realized his dream of becoming a history professor. He can spout off every answer to "Jeopardy!" and reads books about Winston Churchill.

Morgan Freeman as Chambers plays the same wise soul we've seen so many times before. Here he gets another chance to show off his booming voice in an opening voiceover a la "Shawshank Redemption," "Million Dollar Baby," and "March of the Penguins."

"I believe you measure yourself by those who measure themselves by you."

It's the sap that starts "The Bucket List" dripping with cliches and typecasting.

After the two men get over their disdain for one another's idiosyncrasies -- Cole is annoyed by Chambers' bevy of visitors and handmade get well cards, and the usually calm Chambers finds Cole's arrogance just a tad annoying.

They meet on common ground when both are told by doctors they have limited time to live because of terminal cancer. When Cole discovers a piece of legal pad paper containing Chambers' "Things to do before I die list," the hard-boiled Cole turns into Jello. He decides to take his money and spend it on his newfound friend. The two jetset to exotic locales, eat caviar together, skydive, and drive fast cars.

Then there's the reality check. What ruins the fascade of this excursion for moviegoers is that it's fairly apparent that the cast and crew never set foot in the Himalayas, or any of the other far-reaching places that Cole's private jet could steer them. Check the faux backdrop of the Egyptian pyramids. Notice at the end credits there was no crew employed for the Hong Kong scenes or at the Taj Mahal.

But the film isn't about locales or the storyline, really. It's sappy and manipulative, but the transparent truth of the matter is that the film is a showcase for two Hollywood giants, both now 70, and in the twilights of their careers. And if anyone can turn schmaltz into an entertaining 97 minutes, Nicholson and Freeman can.

It's a shame Reiner took the easy road and didn't reverse the casting. What if Freeman played the crochety billionaire with Nicholson as the "Jeopardy!" loving auto mechanic? Now, that would have injected a bit of life into "The Bucket List."