The Morgan Freeman movie Roger Ebert hated with a passion: “The sole redeeming merit of the film”

Morgan Freeman is one of those actors who’s never been shy in admitting when they’ve taken a role solely for the money, even if it’s obvious to anyone watching that he’s only there for the paycheque. However, it wasn’t one of those cash-grabbing gigs that infuriated Roger Ebert.

Cinema’s favourite wizened sage has been open and honest in naming features like blockbuster bomb Hard Rain, shoddy Stephen King adaptation Dreamcatcher, and the entirety of Gerard Butler’s Fallen franchise as parts he only took because they added an extra couple of zeroes to his bank balance, but that doesn’t mean the veteran has devolved into nothing but a money-hungry mercenary.

There’s a hint of irony to the fact the Freeman flick Ebert so vehemently despised was something the Academy Award-winning star was eager to work on for a number of reasons, one of which was his illustrious co-lead. On the plus side, The Shawshank Redemption alum’s performance did get pass marks from the legendary critics, whereas his opposite number did not.

A movie that nobody wanted to make in the first place, there must have been plenty of egg on faces in boardrooms around Hollywood when Rob Reiner’s The Bucket List didn’t just earn $175 million at the box office but entered the titular term into the zeitgeist, where it’s remained ever since.

For a lot of viewers, it’s a lightweight and inoffensive end-of-life crisis comedy anchored by two iconic actors bringing plenty of chemistry and pathos to the screen, a sentiment Ebert would wholeheartedly disagree with after his review awarded it just one star out of four and urged hospitals worldwide not to show it to patients because “there may be an outbreak of bedpans thrown at TV screens.”

Ebert’s biggest issue with The Bucket List was Jack Nicholson, remarking that “loveability is not a strong suit” for the three-time Oscar winner. As for the picture as a whole, Ebert was highly critical of the dynamic between the two leads, lamenting how Freeman’s signature narration boils down to him “extolling the saintly virtues of a white person who deserves our reverence.”

As mentioned, Freeman did escape unscathed compared to Nicholson, with Ebert highlighting the stately star as “the sole redeeming merit of the film,” although he did make a point of noting that he’s “appeared in more than one embarrassing movie, but never embarrassed himself.” As for the other half of the central pair? “Maybe it’s not Jack Nicholson’s fault that his role cries out to be overplayed, but it’s his fate and ours.”

The Bucket List definitely ladles on the schmaltz as thick as possible, and it was too sickly for Ebert to stomach. It’s not a great film by any stretch of the imagination, although it is one that makes for an easy watch. If it weren’t for Nicholson, perhaps the critic would have been more willing to embrace the sentimentality.

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