Review

Morgan Freeman

THE BUCKET LIST

2.5 stars, out of 4

Plot: Two terminally ill men set out to complete their things-to-do-before-I-die lists.

What works: Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson are well-cast as the film's odd couple.

What doesn't: The film's attempt at existential meditation falls short of real depth.

Starring: Morgan Freeman, Jack Nicholson, Sean Hayes. Director: Rob Reiner. Running time: 1 hour 37 minutes. Rating: PG-13, for language, including a sexual reference. Where: Elmwood Palace, Clearview Palace, West Bank Palace, Hammond Palace, Hollywood 9 (Kenner), Hollywood 14 (Covington), Holiday 12, Grand (Slidell).

It won't change your life, but it won't be terrible, either. (Let's pretend we've never heard of "North, " about which the generally genial movie critic Roger Ebert wrote, "I hated this movie. Hated hated hated hated hated this movie. Hated it.")

"The Bucket List" fits that typical Reiner profile perfectly, for better or worse.

The film is helped by its spot-on casting. The cranky but oddly charming Nicholson is the film's cranky but oddly charming curmudgeon, and the wise and elegant Freeman is the film's wise and elegant voice of grandfatherly reason. Neither steps outside of his comfort zone here, but then neither needs to. Nicholson can be his rubber-faced, eyebrow-raising, wise-ass self, and Freeman can flash that contagious smile and showcase his extraordinary ease of being, and the film is better off for it.

The two actors seem to have a genuine chemistry as they go about playing perfect strangers with terminal illnesses who are forced to share a hospital room. By virtue of their forced companionship, their characters see each other at their most vulnerable -- sick, pained, frightened. ("Somewhere, " Nicholson growls at a particularly low point of chemotherapy, "some lucky guy is having a heart attack.")

Although they are different personalities and from different worlds, they inevitably bond. Reiner probably nurses the odd couple routine too long; it's 35 minutes before we meet the titular list -- that's a fairly long wind-up -- but it's time pleasantly spent, watching the two old pros bounce zingers off each other.

When they finally embark on their shared mission is when the film gets fun.

Along the way, Reiner and company take stabs at engaging in existential meditation, but it's hard to take any of it too seriously, the film's ultimate message being as simple as it is. (Basically: "It's never too late.")

It's also fraught with predictabilities, as well as some unfortunate technical shortcomings. (Will anybody actually believe Freeman and Nicholson are in Egypt?)

The sentimentalists in the audience might find themselves misty-eyed and moved by it all, while those who reside on the opposite end of the emotional spectrum could have trouble seeing "The Bucket List" as anything but mildly diverting.