The Bucket List

The Bucket List (Rent) Two terminally ill men escape from a cancer ward and head off on a road trip with a wish list of to-dos before they die. The Bucket List (Buy)

CRITIC REVIEW

Critics are kicking The Bucket List. Despite the drawing power of its stars, Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, Stephen Holden in the New York Times writes that "it is an open question whether audiences will flock to a preposterous, putatively heartwarming buddy comedy about two men diagnosed with terminal cancer living it up in their final months." Peter Howell in the Toronto Star warns that the movie may be "a distressing hint at what Hollywood might be like a few months from now if the current writers' strike continues and producers are forced to hire Hallmark Cards scribes to churn out screenplays." Even the movie's legendary stars and its director, Rob Reiner, don't escape the critics' swipes. For example, Jan Stuart writes in Newsday: "In Rob Reiner's sodden comedy, Nicholson and Morgan Freeman recycle old screen personas with an abandon that borders on self-parody." And Claudia Puig in USA Today concludes, "The entire undertaking feels like a waste of time and talent."