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It’s a simple exercise. Make a list of all the things you want to do in your life, big experiences, noble goals, altruistic urges. From peering into the Grand Canyon to learning a foreign language to dating a cheerleader. This is what you will squeeze in before you “kick the bucket.” Needless to say, that list will change, maybe take on a certain urgency, if you learn you have a terminal illness. What’s the old adage? “Nothing focuses the mind like the knowledge of impending death.” That’s the premise of Rob Reiner’s engaging but well-worn comedy The Bucket List. Pair up a healthcare mogul and a working-class mechanic in a hospital room, tell them they have months to live and let them work out a list together. The rich guy will pay for it. The mechanic-philosopher will fill in the blanks, provide “meaning.” Jack Nicholson devours the scenery as hospital magnate Edward Cole. Morgan Freeman is Carter Chambers, a guy who has had a real life, just not a lot of fun in it. They are two cancer patients thrown together who decide to make their last months memorable, at least to themselves. Theirs is a reluctant partnership. They have little in common. The rich guy is a loner, a bon vivant, a jerk who intentionally gets people’s names wrong just to put them in their place. The mechanic is a kindly Jeopardy! fanatic, a reader, with a wife and grown children who love him. One has sacrificed family for a lifestyle and gathering wealth; the other has given up himself for his family. This movie is formularic. Of course, if one of the participants wasn’t as rich as Cresus the movie wouldn’t work. However, if you overanalyze, then you will miss the point. The movie has its moments of schmaltz but that’s what makes you feel so good in the end. I class this move with “The Ultimate Gift” and “August Rush.” Unrealistic but with a moral lesson that is very important if you don’t try to over psychoanalyze the movie or expect it to be really realistic. “The Bucket List” got mixed reviews and overall got ok reviews by critics and mostly about 8/10 by viewers. I highly recommend this movie if you promise to look at it as a type of life lesson you can come away with. I think the main point is that you shouldn’t let your life get so busy that you can’t find a little joy every now and then. Well worth the price of admission, even if you have to pay full price.