BILLIONAIRE entrepreneur Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) has made his fortune by bleeding the American healthcare system dry.

Diagnosed with terminal cancer and given just a year to get his affairs in order, Edward ends up in a room in one of his own facilities, shared with auto mechanic Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman), who faces the same gloomy prognosis.

After a fractious introduction, smoothed over by Edward's assistant Thomas, the two old-timers bond and decide to embrace Carter's idea of a bucket-list: pipe dreams to achieve in the little time they have left.

Seeing as Edward is filthy rich, money really is no object and the world is their oyster.

The two men embark on a whirlwind round-the-world expedition, sampling the fine cuisine of the French Riviera and jumping into the cockpit of racing cars, or making a tandem parachute jump.

Carter's loving wife Virginia (Todd) grows concerned about how little time her husband is spending with his family and begs Edward to cut short the grand adventure.

"Give him back to me!" she pleads. "I'm prepared for my husband to die. I'm just not prepared to lose him while he's still alive."

However, the men's lust for life brings them ever closer as they face the demons of the past.

The Bucket List is sporadically amusing and inoffensive.

Nicholson and Freeman seem to be having fun, the former relishing the choice one-liners in Justin Zachman's script, the latter spouting sombre truths like "You measure yourself by the people who measure themselves by you."

The film's budget evidently didn't stretch to visiting most of the places on Edward and Carter's death list: green screen work is almost laughable in places as the actors try to convince us they are really chewing the fat atop a pyramid.

The tear-jerking finale leaves no hoary ol' cliche unturned.

When Carter tells his companion, "I've taken baths deeper than you," he might as well be commenting on Reiner's film.

  • See it at the Empire and Odeon.