YMMV / The Bucket List

• Creator's Pet: Roger Ebert accused Morgan Freeman's opening narration of doing this for Edward's character:
  I'm thinking, just once, couldn't a movie open with the voiceover telling us what a great guy the Morgan Freeman character is? Nicholson could say, "I was a rich, unpleasant, selfish jerk, and this wise, nice man taught me to feel hope and love." Yeah, that would be nice. Because what's so great about Edward, anyway? He throws his money around like a pig and makes Carter come along for the ride. So what?
• Critical Dissonance: The film received mixed reviews from critics, but opened at #1 at the box office and eventually made $175.4 million worldwide, almost four times its $45 million budget, a sizable profit for Warner Bros.
  • It opened with $19.4 million, and had strong "legs" (a term for a film's staying power), never once having a weekend to weekend decline higher than 40 percent (during its run in the top 12, its weekend declines were 27%, 25%, 36%, 22%, 24% and 37%), eventually making it to $93.5 million in North America.
  • Moviegoers loved the movie for the most part, as audiences polled by Cinemascore gave it an A-minus grade (on an A+ to F scale).
• Funny Moments: When Carter informs Edward what his fancy coffee is really made of, Edward replies "you're shitting me". To which Carter answers, "Cats beat me to it". This also cause both of the men to laugh so hard that tears form in their eyes, which was one of the items on their list.
  • The final line in the movie:
    “Edward was happy with his final resting place... because he was buried on a mountain... and that was against the law.”
• Heartwarming Moments: Tons, but Edward meeting his granddaughter, who is the "most beautiful girl in the world" from his list, is especially poignant
  • The premise of the movie itself is one. A middle-class man dying of cancer befriends a billionaire suffering the same illness, who allows him to do things that he otherwise wouldn't be able to, while at the same time, helping the billionaire find his humanity.
• Ho Yay: "Edward, please give me my husband back."
• Memetic Mutation: The film is credited with inventing the phrase "bucket list" (a list of things that a person promises to do or see before they die), which is now in common parlance—even among people who've never actually seen the movie.
• Retroactive Recognition: While Jonathan Mangum was well-known amongst fans of The Drew Carey Show, and Drew Carey's Green Screen Show, it's likely more general audiences will recognize him in this film (as one of Edward's clients), now that he's the announcer for Let's Make a Deal.
• So Okay, It's Average: The general reception to this film, especially from Roger Ebert, who actually had thyroid cancer (which eventually led to his passing in 2013) and took issue with some of the specifics of the way cancer patients and the hospital were portrayed.

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