The Bucket List, 2008

I'm not going to review this new release myself, because Ebert, a cancer survivor, did such a great job.

After reading Ebert's review, I certainly have no desire to see the film, much as I love Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicolson, the two actors who play aging men who meet in a cancer ward and bond.

"'The Bucket List' is a movie about two old codgers who are nothing like people, both suffering from cancer that is nothing like cancer, and setting off on adventures that are nothing like possible," Ebert writes. "I urgently advise hospitals: Do not make the DVD available to your patients; there may be an outbreak of bedpans thrown at TV screens."

And the best paragraph in the review:

"The movie, directed by Rob Reiner, was written by Justin Zackham, who must be very optimistic indeed if he doesn't know that there is nothing like a serious illness to bring you to the end of sitcom cliches. I've never had chemo, as Edward and Carter must endure, but I have had cancer, and believe me, during convalescence after surgery the last item on your bucket list is climbing a Himalaya. Your list is more likely to be topped by keeping down a full meal, having a triumphant bowel movement, keeping your energy up in the afternoon, letting your loved ones know you love them, and convincing the doc your reports of pain are real and not merely disguising your desire to become a drug addict. To be sure, the movie includes plenty of details about discomfort in the toilet, but they're put on hold once the trots are replaced by the globe-trotting."

Don't see this film, but do read Ebert's review.

Read more:

The Assertive Cancer Patient Reviews 'Cancer Movies'

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@ Jeanne Sather 2008.

Comments

[Amorette]

You know, they never mentioned cancer in the commercials, but I figured (once I saw Hollywood-wan actors in hospital beds, and then the mention of "before you kick the bucket") that it was going to be a typical uninformed set of emotional cancer-cliches.

So of course I had no intention whatsoever of getting anywhere near this film, and I'm glad you're warning people away from it.

So let me guess...they do all these things that no cancer patient in the world would ever have the energy (or proximity to a toilet) to do, then they "cross the finish line" exhausted but fulfilled?

Pfft.

I hate cancer movies.

[Sara]

Wonderful. Thank you.

I'd rather kill myself than see that movie. I could tell just from the previews.

Here's another way to look at it:

http://icanhascheezburger.com/2008/01/09/funny-pictures-the-bukkit-list/

Of course, this may only be funny to longtime devotees of LOLcat-style humor, but fortunately there's a link to the silly silly joke that started the whole walrus-and-bucket leitmotif. :) :) :)

Can I also just add that I really hate the whole "X-number of things to do before [I/you/we die/get married/turn X age]" thing, like, a lot? Making life all about the deadline seems to me to be missing the point on a fundamental level, so I also suspect that no movie purporting to celebrate that mindset can ever be anything more than insultingly shallow and trivial.

[jeanne]

Sara--good point on the lists of things to do before you die. There's a travel guide: XX places to see before you die, (I forget the number, but it's like a thousand), and whenever I see that book I get depressed.

I don't even take it off the shelf, just the title is enough to make me depressed.

Jeanne

[jessica]

bummer.

i love morgan freeman. driving miss daisy? so genuine and polite.

and i bawl like a baby when red reads the note from his friend, andy, in shawshank redemption, requesting his companionship in zihuatanejo.

you'd think such respected actors just might have a better perception when choosing such sensitive scripts. guess not...

[jeanne]

I love Morgan Freeman too. Ebert said he did a great job with lousy material.

Sigh. I'll have to write a role for him into my screenplay, which is backburnered while I figure out Medicare ... Argh.

Jeanne