Review in a Hurry: Morgan Freeman takes a break from playing God to play Carter Chambers, a sickly dude about to meet God. But first he meets Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson), who's also terminally ill, and together the geezers travel the world before leaving it. Though it's not DOA due to its powerhouse stars, drippy Bucket still doesn't kill.
The Bigger Picture: Surprisingly, this sappy pap is not based on a book by Mitch Albom, who's wrung out tears and rung up dollars with The Five People You Meet in Heaven and For One More Day. Like Albom, screenwriter Justin Zackham and director Rob Reiner (really?) mix a mawkish, high-concept premise with carpe diem messages and musings about religious faith. Hey, if that's your cup o' tea, then guzzle this Bucket of treacle.
Family man Carter (Freeman) is an auto mechanic with a Jeopardy obsession and an encyclopedic knowledge of trivia (a character trait that quickly grates). Diagnosed with cancer, he checks into a hospital owned by bazillionaire bachelor Edward (Nicholson). Also stricken with cancer, Edward—following his own publicized rules of equal treatment—ends up sharing a room with Carter. Yeah right, in what bizarre HMO world?
Though they're polar opposites, the two become buds while undergoing chemo and are even given the same prognosis: less than a year to live. So, they create a list of stuff to see and do before they croak. Despite protestations by his wife, Virginia (Beverly Todd), Carter joins Edward for the globe-trotting adventure, a series of last hurrahs.
Fortunately, the guys don't have any symptoms from their illnesses, so they can go skydiving, race muscle cars and get tattoos. And fortunately, Edward has a private jet and personal assistant (Sean Hayes, in a thankless role), so they can visit the pyramids, the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China, etc. (The sights are lovely, but Jack and Morgan are clearly green-screened in at times.)
Sure, the old coots seem to be having a hoot, but these acting vets adopt too-familiar roles here: Freeman is the wise, spiritual one, and Nicholson is the wise-ass, cantankerous one. We've seen 'em do this act before and do it better.
By the end of their journey, lessons are learned and estranged relationships are repaired. Natch. Despite the pic's lack of realism—and of well-developed substories—the last reel does produce a few touching moments. But Bucket would catch more in the throat if the filmmakers weren't so hell-bent on shoving it down there.
The 180—a Second Opinion: Anything that prompts you to hug your mom, call an old friend, laugh out loud, take a vacation, appreciate beauty, etc., can't be all bad, right?