I’m a huge fan of Morgan Freeman for his Shawshank Redemption and Seven performances, so when I heard he was pitting his acting talents against the screen presence of Jack Nicholson I had to see it. They play two men who find themselves sharing a hospital room and end up bonding through the news that they are both dying from cancer. When Freeman’s character draws up a “bucket list” - of things to do before you “kick the bucket” - they depart on a road trip completing items they have each added to the list.

One would think that putting these two living legends in a film together should have made for great viewing but instead we get a film that isn’t big enough to handle the personas that come with such stars. Justin Zackham’s script is as predictable and unbelievable as they come and I found myself wondering how film-makers as experienced as Freeman, Nicholson and director Rob Reiner could allow themselves to be lumbered with such poor work. Predictability is the name of the game with this film though. From the very first frame we get the Freeman voice-over and with each passing minute Reiner allows the persona’s to take over.

The biggest looser in all this is Beverly Todd, who plays Freeman’s loyal wife. Theirs is a marriage that has lost its love and petered into habit and respect. What starts out as a very interesting dynamic between Freeman and Todd is quickly discarded and Todd’s performance deserved better. It was the most interesting part of the film as for a moment it was a relationship that could have gone in a number of different directions with the news of Freeman’s character’s impending death.

Even the fact that Freeman develops into his stock wise-character and Nicholson is never more than crazy Jack, the two actors do enough to remain watchable. It is them rather than their characters or the film that I found myself watching though.

Despite attempting to deal with cancer in a more human and positive manner I was disappointed with Reiner’s direction. From his constantly slow pace to his glossing over of the completion of the list in favour of sudden out pourings of revealing stories. I expect more from the director of Stand By Me, When Harry Met Sally and A Few Good Men, but then I have been expecting more of him for over ten years now.

That the talents of Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson could be wasted in such a way was the only surprise of the film, and one can only hope it serves to inspire someone to give them something with a bit more meat to it in the near future. If you still want to see this movie watch the trailer. That will tell you the entire story, but remember the film is even worse!