Friday, May 8, 2009

The Bucket List

The Bucket List. 2007 Warner Bros. Pictures.
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Jack Nicholson, Sean Hayes, Beverly Todd, Rob Morrow
Director: Rob Reiner
Buy The Bucket List from Amazon. Or, visit the official site.

Two men from totally different backgrounds meet for the first time in the same hospital after both of them are diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Carter Chambers (Freeman) is an expert at history who wanted to become a professor, but circumstances in his personal life prevented him from ever getting out of his mechanics job at the local auto body shop. Billionaire Edward Cole (Nicholson) made his fortune from healthcare, he's been divorced four times, and his favorite activity is tormenting his personal assistant Matthew (Hayes). Edward also tells Matthew to cater to Carter as well as him.

Carter writes up a "bucket list" of things he wants to do before kicking the bucket. When he is told he has less than a year to live, he discards the note, but Edward finds it, and urges him to do everything on the list, as well as adding a few more activities, like skydiving. After Edward offers to finance the whole trip, Carter agrees, but his wife Virginia (Todd) doesn't like this decision.

And, for those curious, here is what's on "the bucket list":

Witness something truly majestic (Mount Everest)
Help a complete stranger for a common good
Laugh till I cry
Drive a Shelby Mustang
Kiss the most beatiful girl in the world
Get a tattoo
Skydiving
Visit Stonehenge
Spend a week at the Louvre
See Rome
Dinner at La Cherie d'Or
See the Pyramids
Get back in touch (previously "Hunt the big cat")
Visit Taj Mahal, India
Hong Kong
Victoria Falls
Serengeti
Ride the Great Wall of China

Can Carter and Edward finish off their list before kicking the bucket?

Recommended movie, although it is a little disconcerting to see Jack Nicholson playing a terminally ill character.

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