Make no mistake, The Bucket List is definitely not a lighthearted comedy. Directed by Rob Reiner, this film is depressing and at times out-and-out morbid, for Justin Zackham’s screenplay makes tremendous light of the tribulations and tragedy facing terminally ill cancer patients and their families.

Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson), a pompous billionaire in a cancer ward, must learn to coexist with humble auto-mechanic Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman), another unfortunate patient in the same ward.  As the hospital’s proprietor, Cole instituted a policy stating that nobody, including himself, would be given a private room, regardless of his circumstances. He purposely did this to save funds when the hospital was being constructed.

Despite their vast differences, Cole and Carter learn to tolerate each other’s quirks. Cole becomes disgusted when he sees Carter receiving substandard care from the doctors and nurses employed in his hospital, so he takes things into his own hands. He appoints his personal physician to care for Carter -- and writes off the expense.

After physicians discover that Cole and Carter will no longer respond to medical treatment, they tell the men to expect to die within a year. Although Carter puts on a stoic front around Virginia (Beverly Todd), his wife of 46 years, beneath his agreeable surface appearance the man is seething about being nothing more than a mechanic. Carter spent two months at a university before discovering Virginia was pregnant with the first of their three children. Deeply in debt, he took the only job he could find and learned to fix cars to make ends meet.

While at the university, Carter was impressed by a philosophy professor who asked his students to write a ”bucket list” of goals to achieve before they died.  Ironically, it’s this same list he recalls after being given the bad news about his terminal illness. He jots things down from memory onto a paper before crumpling it up in disgust. But he misses the wastebasket, and Cole asks his personal assistant Thomas (Sean Hayes) to pick it up. Realizing the paper contains a list of Carter’s goals, Cole makes some adjustments to it. After merging his aspirations with Carter’s, he persuades his new friend to leave the hospital so they can complete their joint “bucket list.”

The first half of the film takes place in a hospital room where Cole and Carter are hooked up to a myriad of tubes. Each undergoes potentially lifesaving surgery, which fails. Despite maintaining a sense of humor, they just can’t hide their agony as they enter the final stages of cancer. They soon embark on a series of reckless and irresponsible tasks which include racing automobiles and parachuting out of airplanes. Zackham and Reiner conveniently overlook Cole and Carter’s dire illnesses once they discover they won’t generate laughter nor realistically allow for action and adventure.

Nicholson and Freeman do their best to overcome their one-dimensional characters and the impractical screenplay, as well as Reiner’s slow-paced direction. They ultimately fall short. Although meant to be uplifting and inspirational, The Bucket List will probably offend many people confronted with cancer or a different terminal illness -- and it may also have a downer effect on many other viewers.  

(Released by Warner Bros. and rated “PG-13” for language, including a sexual reference.)