The Bucket List
Encyclopedia
The Bucket List is a 2007 comedy-drama film directed by Rob Reiner
Rob Reiner
Robert "Rob" Reiner is an American actor, director, producer, writer, and political activist.As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence as Archie and Edith Bunker's son-in-law, Michael "Meathead" Stivic, on All in the Family. That role earned him two Emmy Awards during the 1970s...

, written by Justin Zackham
Justin Zackham
Justin Zackham is the writer and executive producer of "The Bucket List" starring Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman, Sean Hayes and Rob Morrow. The film, directed by Rob Reiner, was released on Christmas, 2007. The film tells the story of two men who are roommates in a cancer ward where they learn...

, and starring Academy Award-winners Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...

 and Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...

. The main plot follows two terminally ill
Terminal illness
Terminal illness is a medical term popularized in the 20th century to describe a disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and that is reasonably expected to result in the death of the patient within a short period of time. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as...

 men (portrayed by Nicholson and Freeman) on their road trip with a wish list
Wish List
There are two types of wish lists: personal wish lists, and software User wish lists.Personal wish lists compile an itemization of goods or services they desire. The list's author will then distribute copies of this list to family, friends, and other stakeholders who are likely to purchase gifts...

 of things to do before they "kick the bucket
Kick the bucket
To kick the bucket is an English idiom that is defined as "to die" in the Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue . It is considered a euphemistic, informal, or slang term. Its origin remains unclear, though there have been several theories.-Origin theories:...

." The film received its premiere on December 15, 2007 in Hollywood. It opened in limited release
Limited release
Limited release is a term in the American motion picture industry for a motion picture that is playing in a select few theaters across the country ....

 in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 on December 25, 2007 and was distributed by Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...



The film opened in wide release in the United States and Canada on January 11, 2008 and was released in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 on February 8, 2008, and in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 on February 21, 2008. It received mixed reviews from film critics, but was a box office success, opening at the top of the box office, and grossing a total of $175.3 million worldwide.

Plot

Blue-collar mechanic Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...

) and billionaire hospital magnate Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...

) meet for the first time in the hospital after both have been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...

. Although Edward is reluctant to share a room with Carter, complaining that he "looks half-dead already," they become friends as they undergo their respective treatments. Carter is a gifted amateur historian and family man who had wanted to become a history professor in his youth, had been "black, broke, [and with a] baby on the way" and, thus, never rose above his status as a mechanic at the McCreath body shop. Carter loves showing off his knowledge and his favorite show is Jeopardy!
Jeopardy!
Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...

. Edward is a four-time divorced health-care tycoon and cultured loner who enjoys nothing more than tormenting his personal valet/servant, Thomas (Sean Hayes
Sean Hayes (actor)
Sean Patrick Hayes is an American actor and comedian. He is widely known for his role as Jack McFarland in the NBC sitcom Will & Grace, for which he won an Emmy Award, four SAG Awards, one American Comedy Award, and six Golden Globes nominations.He also portrayed comedian Jerry Lewis in the...

), who later reveals his name is actually Matthew. Edward prefers to call him Thomas because he finds the name Matthew too "biblical." Edward drinks a specific variety of coffee called "Kopi Luwak
Kopi Luwak
Kopi luwak , or civet coffee, is one of the world's most expensive and low-production varieties of coffee. It is made from the beans of coffee berries which have been eaten by the Asian Palm Civet and other related civets, then passed through its digestive tract. A civet eats the berries for their...

", one of the most expensive coffees in the world.

Carter begins writing a "bucket list," or things to do before he "kicks the bucket" (i.e. dies). After hearing he has less than a year, Carter discards the list. Edward finds it the next morning and urges Carter to do everything on the list (and adds more things to do), and offers to finance the trip for the both of them. Carter agrees, despite the protests of his wife, Virginia (Beverly Todd
Beverly Todd
Beverly Todd is an American actress, producer and writer. Todd gained major work during the 1970s, appearing in notable films such as The Lost Man , They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! , Brother John and A Piece of the Action . This eventually led to other distinguished and more important work...

).

The pair begins an around-the-world vacation. They go skydiving together, climb the Pyramids
Egyptian pyramids
The Egyptian pyramids are ancient pyramid-shaped masonry structures located in Egypt.There are 138 pyramids discovered in Egypt as of 2008. Most were built as tombs for the country's Pharaohs and their consorts during the Old and Middle Kingdom periods.The earliest known Egyptian pyramids are found...

, drive a Shelby Mustang
Shelby Mustang
The Shelby Mustang is a high performance variant of the Ford Mustang which was built by Shelby American from 1965 through 1970. Following the introduction of the fifth generation Ford Mustang, the Shelby nameplate was revived in 2007 for new high performance versions of the Mustang.- 1965–1966 :The...

, fly over the North Pole
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...

, eat dinner at Chevre d'Or in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, visit and praise the beauty and history of Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal is a white Marble mausoleum located in Agra, India. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal...

, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, ride motorcycles on the Great Wall of China
Great Wall of China
The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in northern China, built originally to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire against intrusions by various nomadic groups...

, and attend a lion safari
Safari
A safari is an overland journey, usually a trip by tourists to Africa. Traditionally, the term is used for a big-game hunt, but today the term often refers to a trip taken not for the purposes of hunting, but to observe and photograph animals and other wildlife.-Etymology:Entering the English...

 in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

. Atop the Great Pyramid
Great Pyramid of Giza
The Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza Necropolis bordering what is now El Giza, Egypt. It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one to remain largely intact...

, looking out over the pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure, they confide about faith and family, revealing that Carter has long been feeling less in love with his wife and that Edward is deeply hurt by his estrangement from his only daughter, who disowned him after he sent some people to get rid of her abusive
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...

 husband. In Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

, Edward hires a prostitute (Rowena King
Rowena King
Rowena Josephine King , sometimes credited as Roweena King, is an English film, television and theatre actress.-Early life and education:She was born in London, England, to an African mother and a Caucasian British father....

) for Carter, who has never been with any woman but his wife. Carter declines and, realizing that he loves his wife, asks to return home. On the drive back, Carter reciprocates by trying to reunite Edward with his daughter. Edward angrily storms off. Carter returns home to his wife, children, and grandchildren where they have a nice family dinner telling stories and sharing jokes while a frustrated Edward stays home eating frozen dinners alone.

The family reunion is short-lived. In the preparation for a romantic interlude, Carter suffers a seizure and is rushed to the hospital. The cancer has spread to his brain
Brain
The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...

. Edward, who is now in remission, visits him and they share a few moments, where Carter reveals with great amusement that the origin of the Kopi Luwak
Kopi Luwak
Kopi luwak , or civet coffee, is one of the world's most expensive and low-production varieties of coffee. It is made from the beans of coffee berries which have been eaten by the Asian Palm Civet and other related civets, then passed through its digestive tract. A civet eats the berries for their...

 Edward enjoys is grown in the Sumatran village, is eaten and defecated by a jungle cat, and is harvested because of the special aroma of the gastric juices. Carter crosses off "laugh till I cry" from his bucket list and insists Edward finish the list without him. Carter goes into surgery, but the procedure is unsuccessful and he dies on the operating table.

As Carter dies and the news is given to his wife and family, Edward finally attempts to reconcile with his daughter. She not only accepts him back into her life but also introduces him to the granddaughter he never knew he had. After greeting the little girl with a kiss on the cheek, Edward crosses "kiss the most beautiful girl in the world" off the list. Edward delivers a eulogy at the funeral, explaining that he and Carter had been complete strangers, but the last three months of Carter's life were the best three months of his. He crosses off "help a complete stranger for the good" from the list.

The epilogue reveals that Edward lived until age 81, and his ashes were then taken to the Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...

 by his assistant Matthew. As Matthew places a Chock full o' Nuts coffee can alongside another can, he crosses off the last item on the Bucket List ("witness something truly majestic") and places it between the cans. Carter's narration reveals that the two cans contain their ashes and that Edward would have loved this, because he was "buried on the mountain, and that was against the law."

Reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

 reported that 41% of reviews were positive, based on 147 reviews. It also has a 24 percent rating from their top critics. Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

 reported the film had an average score of 40 out of 100, based on 33 reviews. Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...

, who had thyroid cancer
Thyroid cancer
Thyroid neoplasm is a neoplasm or tumor of the thyroid. It can be a benign tumor such as thyroid adenoma, or it can be a malignant neoplasm , such as papillary, follicular, medullary or anaplastic thyroid cancer. Most patients are 25 to 65 years of age when first diagnosed; women are more affected...

, spoke for himself when he criticized the film's portrayal of cancer sufferers, writing in his one-star review that The Bucket List "…thinks dying of cancer is a laugh riot followed by a dime-store epiphany
Epiphany (feeling)
An epiphany is the sudden realization or comprehension of the essence or meaning of something...

."

Box office

The film opened in wide release in the United States and Canada on January 11, 2008 and grossed $19,392,416 in 2,911 theaters, averaging $6,662 per theater and ranking #1 at the box office. The film closed on June 5, 2008, never having a weekend decline of more than 40%, with a final gross of $93,466,502 in the United States and Canada and an additional $81,906,000 in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $175,372,502, easily recouping the film's considerable $45 million budget and turning a sizable profit for distributor Warner Bros. Pictures. The film was well-received by audiences, resulting in a user score of 7.5/10 at the Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...

, a 76% approval rating from users at Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

, a user score of 8.0/10 from users at Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

, and a B grade from users at Box Office Mojo
Box Office Mojo
Box Office Mojo is a website that tracks box office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. Brandon Gray started the site in 1999. In 2002, Gray partnered with Sean Saulsbury and they grew the site to nearly two million readers when, in July 2008, the company was purchased by Amazon.com through...

.

Accolades

Named one of the Top Ten Films of the Year by the National Board of Review.

Soundtrack

A score
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...

 album from Varèse Sarabande was released on January 15, 2008, featuring composer Marc Shaiman
Marc Shaiman
Marc Shaiman is an American composer, lyricist, arranger, and performer for films, television, and theatre. He is perhaps best known for writing the music and co-writing the lyrics for the Broadway musical version of the cult John Waters film Hairspray, for which Shaiman won Tony and Grammy...

's original score for the film as well as a selection of newly recorded themes from Shaiman's previous scoring projects, including City Slickers
City Slickers
City Slickers is a 1991 American comedy film directed by Ron Underwood and starring Billy Crystal, Daniel Stern, Bruno Kirby, Helen Slater and Jack Palance. Palance won an Academy Award for his performance....

, Simon Birch
Simon Birch
Simon Birch is a 1998 American [drama] film loosely based on A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. It was directed and written for the screen by Mark Steven Johnson. The film stars Ian Michael Smith, Joseph Mazzello, Ashley Judd, Oliver Platt, and Jim Carrey. It omitted much of the latter half of...

, The Addams Family
The Addams Family (film)
The Addams Family is a 1991 American black comedy film based on the characters from the cartoon of the same name created by cartoonist Charles Addams....

, Mother
Mother (1996 film)
Mother is a 1996 comedy-drama film directed by Albert Brooks, and was co-written by Brooks with Monica Johnson. The film stars Brooks and Debbie Reynolds.-Plot:...

, North
North (film)
North is an American 1994 comedy film directed by Rob Reiner, and starring Elijah Wood, Bruce Willis, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Dan Aykroyd, Reba McEntire, and Alan Arkin...

, Sleepless in Seattle
Sleepless in Seattle
The film was originally to have been scored by John Barry, but when he was given a list of 20 songs he had to put in the film, he quit.#As Time Goes By - Jimmy Durante #A Kiss to Build a Dream on - Louis Armstrong #Stardust - Nat King Cole...

, South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut, Mr. Saturday Night
Mr. Saturday Night
Mr. Saturday Night is a 1992 film that marks the directorial debut of its star, Billy Crystal.It focuses on the rise and fall of Buddy Young Jr., a fictional stand-up comedian. Crystal produced and co-wrote the screenplay with the writing duo Babaloo Mandel and Lowell Ganz...

, and Stuart Saves His Family
Stuart Saves His Family
Stuart Saves His Family is a 1995 comedy film directed by Harold Ramis, and based on a series of Saturday Night Live sketches from the early-to-mid 1990s. The movie tracks the adventures of would-be self-help guru Stuart Smalley, a creation of comedian Al Franken, as he attempts to save both his...

. It also features a rearranged version of the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...

 theme "Goldfinger
Goldfinger (song)
"Goldfinger" was the title song from the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger. Composed by John Barry and with lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, the song was performed by Shirley Bassey for the film's opening and closing title sequences, as well as the soundtrack album release...

" (titled "Printmaster"), with Shaiman's own voice and lyrics in which he spoofs the industry's habit of tracking music in scenes where they don't belong. The full list of 23 tracks is as follows:
  1. Hospital Hallway (from the movie)
  2. Like Smoke through a Keyhole (from the movie)
  3. Best in L.A. (from the movie)
  4. Really Bad News (from the movie)
  5. Vie en Rose (from the movie)
  6. Hotel Source (from the movie)
  7. Did You Hear It? (from the movie)
  8. Flying Home (from the movie)
  9. Homecomings (from the movie)
  10. Life and Death (from the movie)
  11. The Mountain (from the movie)
  12. End Credits (from the movie)
  13. Theme from The American President ("A Seed of Grain")
  14. Theme from City Slickers
  15. Theme from Simon Birch
  16. Theme from The Addams Family
  17. Theme from Mother
  18. Theme from North
  19. Sleepless in Seattle / A Wink and a Smile"
  20. South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut/"Blame Canada
    Blame Canada
    "Blame Canada" is a song from the film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut . In the song, the fictional parents of South Park, led by Sheila Broflovski, decided to blame Canada for the trouble their children have been getting into since watching the Canadian-made fictional movie Terrance and...

    "
  21. Theme from Mr. Saturday Night
  22. "Printmaster" (After John Barry
    John Barry (composer)
    John Barry Prendergast, OBE was an English conductor and composer of film music. He is best known for composing the soundtracks for 12 of the James Bond films between 1962 and 1987...

    's "Goldfinger")
  23. Theme from Stuart Saves His Family ("What Makes a Family")


The theme song, John Mayer
John Mayer
John Clayton Mayer is an American pop rock and blues rock musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and music producer. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He moved to Atlanta in 1997, where he refined his...

's "Say
Say (song)
"Say" is a song by John Mayer written for the Rob Reiner film The Bucket List in 2007. It was released as a single on November 20 and is the first commercial single in Mayer's career that was not originally released on one of his albums but added to the special edition re-release of his album...

," is not included on the Bucket List soundtrack.
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