A title like The Bucket List (2007) says it all.  However, there is a chicken or egg discussion to be had about this movie, at least as far as my memory is concerned.  You see, it is around this time that the notion of listing all the things you would like to do before you die became popular . . . I think.  However, was the film responding to this popularity, or did it trigger it?  Do not dismiss the second of these theories.  The movie may have been panned by the critics, but it still made money, grossing well over $100 million in profits for the studio.  Having stars like Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson probably helped.  My reasons for watching were, as always, purely Catholic in nature.  Whatever it is that others think about it, I found some satisfaction in viewing it, and I hope you do as well.

It sounds like somebody is at the end of a satisfactory life on The Bucket List, but it is not Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman), who is telling us about his friend, Edward Perriman Cole (Jack Nicholson).  Edward is a mechanic in Los Angeles who is demonstrating his vast array of trivia when he gets a call from the doctor’s office.  It is not good news, and he walks away from his job without telling anyone.  We then cut to Edward, a healthcare tycoon, who is trying to get a medical board to accept his strict two beds per room policy.  As he waves a take-it-or-leave-it offer in the form of a sizeable check, he suddenly coughs up blood and has to be rushed to the hospital.  His assistant, Thomas (Sean Hayes), is surprised to find Edward has a roommate, Carter.  Though Edward demands to get his own quarters, Thomas points out how hypocritical that would be of him given Edward’s stance on these matters.  Though he is not thrilled by the prospect, Carter and Edward are forced to share the space as they each battle their respective cancers.  It is Edward who is operated on first, which involves cutting into his brain.  During the recovery period, the two become friends and support systems for one another.  Although the procedure reportedly goes well, he is still given six months to a year to live.  Carter is given a similar update.  It comes just as he is preparing the title list, but he just as soon discards it, believing there is little point now in attempting it.  The next morning, Edward finds the crumbled-up paper on the floor and begins to read it.  At first, Carter takes offense, seeing it as an invasion of privacy, but soon realizes the uselessness of getting mad about it.  Then again, Edward does not help matters when he begins making alterations to some of Carter’s ideas.  As Edward jots down his thoughts, an idea forms that they should go ahead and start doing these things, citing their limited time left.  Carter balks at first, but the more he thinks about the time he has sacrificed in the past forty-five years of marriage to Virginia Chambers (Beverly Todd), the more he gets on board with Edward’s enthusiasm.  In fact, by the time Virginia comes for her next visit, after hearing of Carter’s fate, he tells her that he plans to go away for a while with Edward.  She does not take this development well, but Carter feels like it is something he must do.  From here, the story becomes less about doing the things on the list and more about two new friends traveling the world together.  At one point, Virginia contacts Edward and tries to convince the billionaire to return her husband.  He promises to try to talk to Carter, but the genius mechanic sees through Edward’s ruse.  Instead, they continue their tour, going through the Himalayas, but failing to see Mount Everest, before making it to Hong Kong.  While there, Carter is having a drink in a hotel bar when a prostitute sits down and appears to hit it off with him.  Once more, Carter is able to guess that it is Edward behind the set up, but it only makes him miss Virginia more than he thought he would.  As such, while Carter is thankful for all Edward’s efforts, they decide to head home.  After landing, Carter has their car make one more stop before dropping them off.  It is to the house where Emily Cole (Jennifer DeFrancisco), Edward’s estranged daughter, lives.  Because he is not prepared to make amends, Edward angrily drives away, leaving Carter and Thomas behind.  Upon getting to his house, Carter rings the doorbell for Virginia, and he is warmly welcomed.  Indeed, we see him surrounded by his family while a lonely Edward realizes the consequences of alienating others.  Back at the Chambers’ residence, things are getting frisky between Carter and Virginia when she comes out of the bathroom and finds him collapsed on the floor.  Carter has suffered a relapse while, by some kind of miracle, Edward is in remission.  It is Thomas that brings Edward the news of Carter, and Edward leaves immediately to be with Carter.  Virginia and the rest of the family are there, too, for the surgery that they are hoping will save Carter’s life.  Unfortunately, the doctors are not able to save Carter, and he dies shortly thereafter.  Before going into the operating room, Carter had handed Edward the title piece of paper.  With it, while the Chambers grieve, Edward goes to Emily’s to apologize for being absent from her life.  By doing so, Edward is able to cross the last two items off the list, which he does while eulogizing Carter.  The last scene reiterates the opening one, with Thomas burying Edward’s remains atop Mount Everest.

As Edward’s ashes are left at Mount Everest’s summit at the end of The Bucket List, it is Carter telling us about the joy his friend felt until the day he died.  Finding that joy provides the philosophical underpinning for the movie.  At first, that feeling is attached to fun.  That is how Edward sees it anyway, and that is what he vehemently claims is the point of their activities when Carter tries to make it something serious by visiting Emily.  In other words, Edward cares only about the surface enjoyment, which is why he says that Carter’s original list is “lame.”  When Carter is presented with the possibility of the end of his life, he does what a lot of us do: search for meaning.  He thinks that he can find it “seeing something majestic” or “helping strangers.”  This Catholic takes no issue with these ideas.  They are certainly more permanent than skydiving, the first thing these two do and which is Edward’s idea.  There is nothing wrong with such thrills.  I have been skydiving twice, and would do it again without hesitation.  One can even be poetic about such activities.  What better way to view God’s creation than floating above it at a few thousand feet?  The thing that Carter comes to realize is that there is no permanence in these momentary shocks to the endorphin system.  Because these two are facing their end of their lives, their discussion naturally turns to something more eternal, like God.  To this end, Carter makes one of the best points I have heard in a film when he accuses Edward of letting his head get in the way of Faith.  So many of us do that because we overthink God’s existence when His presence can be seen and felt in so many things around us.  When we engage with that beauty in a meaningful way, we leave a good mark on the world.  We also benefit from God’s graces.  Much of this is said directly and indirectly in the movie, which makes it pretty satisfactory.

This will now be the third time I used the word satisfactory when detailing The Bucket List.  Many shy away from that word because of its connotations with averageness.  Instead, treat this one as the kind of satisfaction that comes from a full heart.