The Bucket List
Watching “Stand By Me” recently, I’d forgotten how tough that movie is. I was so young as I was watched it for the first time (back in 1986 when it came out) that I was easily entertained by it, but the older one gets, the more one appreciates the rough emotional core that nostalgia clouds in Stephen King’s story of four friends- each with personal demons to battle- who are travelling to find the dead body of a kid who’d died earlier in the summer. Seen 22 years after its’ release, Rob Reiner’s third film- after comedy successes “The Sure Thing” and the classic “This is Spinal Tap”- is on par with “Misery” and “A Few Good Men” as one of the director’s best dramatic efforts, as well as an exemplary King film adaptation.
I bring up “Stand By Me” because watching Reiner’s latest film, “The Bucket List,” I had a hard time finding that tough inner core to this story of two men (Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, both fine), strangers to one another, dying of cancer who go on a whirlwind tour of the world to take one last stab at lifetime accomplishment. It may be just that the script by Justin Zackham is just not that strong, but it could be that Reiner’s edge has softened. I cried no doubt at the end of the film, but wasn’t inspired or open to the joys and pains of life at the end as I was watching “Big Fish,” “Lars and the Real Girl,” “Keeping the Faith,” or any other film that reveled in the unpredictability of life and was capable of inspiring someone to find the joy of their own life. “The Bucket List” is unabashedly sappy, with laughs along the way and a strong message, but it’s like following a map towards where your heading instead of taking pleasure in the usual detour, if you catch my meaning. Isn’t the whole point of a “bucket list” to give you new experiences and adventures? Why do I feel like I’ve been through all of this before?
