Welcome back to Movie Recaps. Today I will show you a comedy,
drama film from 2007, titled The Bucket List. Spoilers ahead! Watch out and take care.
A mysterious figure is climbing the Himalayas while we learn that Edward Cole died in May,
on a Sunday afternoon, but during his last days on Earth, he lived more than most people manage
to wring out of a lifetime. This is how it all started. Carter Chambers is a mechanic working
at an auto repair shop, where his coworker is always testing his vast knowledge of almost every
topic known to a man. Carter loves this game, but his mood suddenly drops when he receives
a phone call with very bad news. Meanwhile, millionaire businessman Edward Perriman Cole
is trying to get his lawyer to drink kopi luwak, one of the most expensive coffees in the world,
in the middle of a hearing. The chairmen tell them to cut it off and make their offer - Cole's
company wants to privatize this hospital because it is rather incompetent, and when they're accused
of overpopulation, Cole explains he runs hospitals and not spas. It is two patients per room,
no exception. He decides a speech is in order to change their minds, but when he begins speaking,
he coughs blood. Sometime later, personal assistant Thomas takes flowers and a special
coffee machine to the hospital room Edward will be sharing with Carter. When Edward arrives though,
he isn't happy about discovering he'll have a roommate and demands his own room. Thomas
tells him he'll have to endure it because he's defended his two beds per room policy for years,
so it wouldn't look good on him not to follow it for himself. The next morning,
Carter is operated on, but cancer has spread so far that the doctors only give him a five percent
chance to survive. Sometime later, Carter's wife Virginia Chambers, who used to be a nurse,
comments on how sad it is that nobody visits Edward, who has been sleeping since the surgery.
After spending some time with her husband, she leaves, and that's when Edward speaks again - he
has only been pretending to be asleep because he claims more people die from visitors than
their illnesses. The next day, a doctor checks on Edward and tells him they will start chemo soon,
but he won't check on Carter too, telling him to wait for his own doctor. After he leaves, the two
patients began to chat, and Carter explains he's been in and out over the past few months because
he's on an experimental treatment. They talk about various subjects, like Carter's awful
experience with chemo and the history of coffee, which marks the beginning of their friendship.
Later at night, Thomas brings Edward fine food from an expensive restaurant, and he happily
eats it while ignoring Carter's warning against doing so on the same day he's started chemo.
Just as he predicts, Edward ends up throwing it all out in the toilet. Days pass and Edward learns
to deal with how weak his body feels because of chemo. One afternoon, after Carter is visited
by one of his sons, the two of them get to talk about family. Carter has three kids he adores,
but things are a bit tense with his wife right now because she feels he isn't taking enough care of
himself. He wanted to be a history professor and even started college when he was young,
but when Virginia got pregnant, he had to look for a job to support the family.
Edward, on the other hand, has been married four times, and none of those lasted long. He's been
making money since he was sixteen and work is the most successful relationship he's ever had.
Days continue to pass and both men support each other while going through the side-effects of
chemo. They also enjoy each other's company and have plenty of philosophical discussions,
or even play cards. One evening, while Carter is writing down something that he won't tell Edward
about, the doctor comes by and tells Edward that he only has six months left to live.
The news upset him but instead of talking about it, he orders the doctor to look at Carter's
file too since he's been waiting for too long. The doctor does so and Carter tries to comfort Edward,
but Edward only turns away to sink into his thoughts. Carter narrates about how 96% of people
prefer not to know their exact day of death, while he considers himself part of the 4% who
do. Parallel to this, the doctor tells him that he also has a year to live at most, and now he
thinks the opposite, terrified for that knowledge. He crumples the bucket list and throws it away.
Both doomed men share glances, thinking only of playing cards to pass the time.
The following morning, after Thomas checks on Edward and is told to handle his boss'
death as if it was his own, Edward finds Carter's bucket list on the floor and teases him for being
extremely mundane and including simple things like "laugh until I cry" and "see something majestic",
which Carter wants it to be the Himalayans. Edward begins adding things of his own,
like "kissing the most beautiful girl in the world" and "get a tattoo", then tells Carter
they should do it: they should follow the list and go out with a bang. Money isn't a problem because
he can pay for everything, but Carter still thinks it is a ridiculous idea until Edward
points out going back to normal life only means having people walking on eggshells around them,
smothering them with pity and grief. Right after Carter accepts, Virginia arrives to visit him,
getting upset when she hears his condition is not good. She wants a second opinion, and goes from
upset to furious when Carter tells her he doesn't want any more treatments and that he is going away
with Edward for a while. The couple argues, but despite his wife's screams, Carter's decision
is final and Virginia leaves the place hating Edward. The next day, Edward and Carter begin
their new adventures, and Thomas goes with them to help - that's when Carter learns his actual name
is Matthew, but Edward calls him something else because he doesn't like Biblical names. They first
go skydiving, which Carter finds terrifying because hasn't even been on a plane before.
Next, they go to a tattoo parlor, but only Edward gets one: Carter is worried about what his wife
would say and confesses he has never been with another woman. Edward thinks they should add that
to the list, but Carter refuses. Next, Carter gets his dream of driving a vintage Shelby Mustang.
Edward chooses a Dodge Challenger for himself, but Carter destroys him when they race on the
California Speedway. Then they take Edward's plane to fly over the North Pole. After he gets
busy with the flight attendant, he and Carter begin discussing the existence of God - Carter
is a believer, but Edward isn't because he can not understand faith. Their next stop is France,
where they dine at the very exclusive Chevre d'or hotel, housed in a medieval castle.
Edward used to come here all the time with a special lady, and when he accidentally says that
aloud, he finally admits he has a daughter, Emily, who he hasn't seen in years. Carter decides to add
talking to her to the bucket list, but this makes Edward angry because he thinks it's a terrible
idea. Suddenly however, Carter runs out of the room and Edward follows him, ready to apologize
for his outburst, only to find out Carter in front of a mirror with blood on his shirt.
It turns out his catheter came loose, but he fixes it himself and refuses to go to the hospital,
so they return to their hotel room. While Carter takes a bath, Edward gets a call from Virginia,
who demands to have her husband back. She used to work as a nurse, so she is ready for his eventual
death, but she doesn't want to lose him while he is still alive. Feeling guilty, especially after
the catheter incident, Edward goes to talk to Carter and tells him they should stop doing this.
Carter immediately guesses his friend talked to Virginia and promises he isn't doing this because
Carter pressured him into it - there's been a hole in his life since his last kid left home,
and now he's getting to live again. Their trips around the world continue.
They go on a lion safari in Tanzania, and Carter convinces Edward not to kill any animals, although
Edward still shoots his weapon at the air just for fun. Next, they visit the pyramids, which Carter
still doesn't consider majestic enough. He tells Edward about the Egyptian's beliefs about death
and the questions they believed the gods ask when you arrive at heaven's door to determine if you
could enter. The first one is if you've found joy in your life, to which Edward answers yes.
The second question is if your life has brought joy to others, which Edward isn't unsure about,
so he decides to tell the story of how he lost contact with Emily. After the divorce, she went to
live with her mother, so they would only see each other during the holidays or talk on the phone.
After she went to college, she started dating a guy that Edward didn't like much, so he was
against them getting married. This upset Emily, who didn't invite her father to the wedding.
A few months later though, Emily showed up at his house, admitting her husband had hit her.
Edward wanted to bash his brains in, but Emily wouldn't let him because trauma made her defend
her husband, claiming it wasn't his fault and that she had started the fight. When it happened again,
Emily didn't go to her dad, and Edward only learned about it because his ex-wife told him.
So he did what any father would do: he hired a thug that threatened Emily's husband and got him
to leave her. This made Emily furious - she called Edward names and told him he was dead to her.
Regardless of her reaction, he doesn't regret it, and he'd do it all again even if it means
not being allowed into Egyptian heaven. Next they go to India and visit the Taj Mahal,
where they discuss their funeral options. Edward is still unsure of what he wants for his body,
but Carter already knows he wants to be cremated and his ashes should be put in a
can and buried someplace with a view. Afterward, they ride motorcycles on the Great Wall of China,
then visit Mount Everest, where Thomas brings them bad news: having come during winter was
a bad idea because there are storms going on the mountaintops that won't stop until spring,
so they can not go climbing as planned. Since Carter doesn't get to see his beloved mountains,
Edward thinks this may be a sign for them to stop, but Carter gets angry and demands to keep going.
Their next stop is Hong Kong, where Carter meets a woman at a bar that he immediately connects with.
They talk about mountain climbing and she shares her experience in a very poetic way that quite
impresses him, but he still turns her down when she asks him to join her in her room.
Carter returns to his own room and calls out Edward for having paid that woman for him
before announcing he is done with the bucket list and wants to go home. When they arrive in the USA,
Thomas doesn't take them home - he's following a secret plan Carter came up with and takes them
to Emily's house. This makes Edward furious and tells Carter he has no right to mess with
his life like this, not seeing how it's the same thing he did with the lady at the bar.
He says the trip wasn't life-changing and he isn't afraid to die alone, so he tears off the sheet of
paper with the list and leaves in his car, leaving Thomas and Carter to take a cab. Edward goes back
to his apartment, where he gets frustrated because he's out of coffee, but most importantly, lonely.
Hiring two escorts doesn't help the matter, and instead of enjoying himself, he ends up
having a breakdown and crying. Meanwhile, Carter returns home, but instead of using his keys,
he rings the bell and lets Virginia decide if he is allowed to come in or not.
She does welcome him back, and the whole family has dinner together for the first time in a while.
After their meal is over, Carter and Virginia dance together before retiring to their room
so they can be together after a long time of not doing so. However, while Virginia is in
the bathroom putting on something nicer for the night, Carter collapses and is rushed to
the hospital. The following morning, Edward is at one of his many business meetings, barely paying
any attention, when Thomas comes to tell him about a very important call from the hospital.
Edward doesn't hesitate to leave his job for the day and visit Edward, who is still asleep.
The doctor tells him cancer has spread to Carter's brain and the odds are terribly bad before Edward
talks to Virginia, who gives him a letter Carter wrote for him. At that moment, Carter wakes up,
and the two friends exchange some banter as if their fight had never happened. Some hours later,
while Carter is waiting to be taken to surgery, he gives Edward an article that explains why
kopi luwak is so special: the beans are fed to and defecated by a jungle cat before being harvested.
This makes them laugh so hard they cry, so Carter crosses that item off the list,
which he had picked up from the street and put back together with tape. Then he gives the list
to Edward, asking him to please finish it for him. While Carter is sent to surgery, Edward
reads the letter, where Carter apologizes for what he did but also admits he would do it all again.
He also thanks him for the trip that made him a new man and asks him to find joy in his life.
This gives Edward the courage he needs to finally see Emily, who welcomes him into her home and,
after a long emotional talk, introduces him to his granddaughter. Edward hugs and kisses the kid on
the cheek, which allows him to cross "kissing the most beautiful girl in the world" off the list.
Sadly, Carter dies during the surgery. Edward gives a speech during his funeral,
saying the last three months of Carter's life were the best months of Edward's.
He admits he loves him and he misses him, and he is glad he was able to bring some joy to his life,
which allows him to cross "help a complete stranger for the good" off the list. Edward
dies some months later, and this is how we return to the beginning of the story.
The mysterious figure climbing the Himalayas is Thomas, who has brought Edward's ashes in a can
to put next to Carter's, which are also in a can. Then he crosses "witness something truly majestic"
off the list, which is the final item, so he sticks it between the cans before leaving. Being
buried on a mountain is against the law, so Edward is probably very pleased about his resting place.