The Bucket ListMovie Reviews

Poster art for "The Bucket List."

Gifts + Promos

The Vow Free Gift

Buy tickets & receive a FREE 3-Month Love Forecast from Astrology.com!

Fandango Bucks

Send your sweetheart the gift of movies this Valentine’s Day!

Journey Sweeps

Enter for a chance to win a trip for 2 to Nicaragua!

Interactive Oscar Ballot

Who's taking home the Oscar? Cast your vote & challenge your friends on Facebook!

Need Help?
So-so
Avg. Critic Score: 42 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
13 Iffy for 13+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 60
    Variety | Todd McCarthy

    A feel-good film about death, a sitcom about mortality, "Ikiru" for meatheads. It's also a picture about two cancer patients confronting reality, and deciding how they want to spend their presumed last days, that has not an ounce of reality about it. Read full review

  • 50
    Boston Globe | Wesley Morris

    In The Bucket List, Nicholson is human-ish. And Freeman is so human. Read full review

  • 50
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    Emotionally false. Read full review

  • 50
    The Hollywood Reporter | Michael Rechtshaffen

    You'd think the team of Rob Reiner, Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman might have had the right stuff. Alas, their labored efforts fail to lift The Bucket List out of its flatlining state. Read full review

  • 50
    Los Angeles Times | Kevin Crust

    Freeman and Nicholson make the most of Justin Zackham's script, but there just isn't enough substance behind their characters to prop up the carpe diem platitudes. The result is a semi-comedic, geriatric "Brokeback Mountain" minus the sex and with a Himalayan summit. Read full review

  • 50
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    The first thing to say about The Bucket List is that Rob Reiner is the rare director who can take all the wonder out of one of the seven wonders of the world. Read full review

  • 50
    The New York Times | Stephen Holden

    Fails its stars in fundamental ways. Mr. Nicholson has played wealthy rogues before (most recently in "Something's Gotta Give"), but this particular bon vivant is unsalvageably repellent. Read full review

  • 38
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    The entire undertaking feels like a waste of time and talent. Read full review

  • 30
    Washington Post |

    The overall sense, however, is of a movie coasting on an obvious and somewhat flimsy premise, to which no one thought to bring much else besides Nicholson and Freeman. Read full review

  • 25
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    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. Read full review

View more reviews for The Bucket List on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 13+ Bittersweet dramedy approaches death with humor.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that although this movie is a comedy, it deals with cancer and death: The first half of the movie shows how the illness ravages the body and wrecks the spirit (or at least attempts to). Patients are shown getting their heads shaved, doubled over toilets retching, and wandering hospital corridors tethered to IVs. Through it all, there's a fair amount of strong language (including "f--k," though it's sparing). Ultimately, though, the film is about overcoming challenges and staring death in the face without blinking -- an uplifting note on which to end.
  • Families can talk about why Hollywood is enamored with movies about terminal illness (Terms of Endearment, Mask, My Life Without Me)? Why do you think that subject is so compelling to producers -- and audiences? How does this film find humor in the subject without going too far? What about it is realistic? And unrealistic? Do you know anyone who's battled cancer? What was that like?
The good stuff
  • message true3 Positive messages: For all of the bluster of one of the characters, the movie's overall message is heartwarming and affirming: A list filled with exotic adventures is fun, but the biggest task to check off before your time is up is staring life (or death) in the face and embracing its daily joys.
What to watch for
  • violence false0 Violence: At one point, Cole and Chambers scream at each other on a sidewalk. A married couple also argues (not much screaming, but there's tension).
  • sex false3 Sex: A flight attendant leaves an airplane washroom looking unkempt and fastening the buttons of her blouse; a man leaves the same washroom soon after (shenanigans are implied). A woman propositions a married man (he turns her down). Some semi-crass discussion of sex. A husband and wife embrace tenderly and reminisce about the first time they got together. One entry on the list is "to kiss the most beautiful woman in the room."
  • language false3 Language: Everything from "goddammit" to "s--tty" to "f--king" (though the "F" word is used sparingly). One character gives another the finger.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Numerous raves for the kopi luwak, Indonesian coffee known to be the most expensive on earth. Signage for Cole's hospital, Reed Hill. A glimpse of a NYC taxi logo. One character loves to watch Jeopardy.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Some drinking in social situations (restaurants, etc).
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

Looking for more reviews? Movies.com Critics Say:

Dave White

1.0

Dave White Profile See Dave White's Profile

… so darn boring … Read full review See Dave White's on MOVIENAME on Movies.com

Read more movie reviews at Movies.com

The Bucket List Movie Ratings + Reviews

Fans say

Go 12,397 fan reviews

Critics say

So-so See all critic reviews

The Bucket List Featured Trailers + Video Clips

Facebook Movie Fans

Fan Fandango on Facebook