Two terminally ill men escape from a cancer ward and head off on a road trip with a wish list of to-dos before they die.
Corporate billionaire Edward Cole and working class mechanic Carter Chambers have nothing in common except for their terminal illnesses. While sharing a hospital room together, they decide to leave it and do all the things they have ever wanted to do before they die according to their bucket list. In the process, both of them heal each other, become unlikely friends, and ultimately find joy in life.—r2k443
Edward is a rich man and is forced to share his room with Carter in the cancer ward of his hospital to improve the public relations of his company. Both are given the news that they have less than a year left. They both then decide to make the most of whatever time they have left and form a bucket list . One by one they keep crossing items on the list till all items are crossed and in turn add value to each others lives.—Keith Francis
Having only a few months left to live, terminally ill Edward and Carter have an epiphany. Determined to take matters into their own hands, the unlikely team embarks on a liberating quest to right the wrongs that kept them stuck forever. However, their extensive, enthusiastic bucket list demands courage. After all, the two broken men were afraid to live for decades. But not this time. Now, Carter and Edward want to live the rest of their days to the fullest, heal the painful wounds of the past, and end the party with a bang--even if it kills them.—Nick Riganas
Blue-collar mechanic Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) and billionaire hospital magnate Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) meet for the first time in the hospital after both have been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Although Edward is reluctant to share a room with Carter, complaining that he "looks half-dead already," they become friends as they undergo their respective treatments.
Carter is a gifted amateur historian and family man who had wanted to become a history professor in his youth, had been "black, broke, [and with a] baby on the way" and, thus, never rose above his status as a mechanic at the McCreath body shop. Carter loves showing off his knowledge and his favorite show is Jeopardy!. Edward is a four-time divorced health-care tycoon and cultured loner who enjoys nothing more than tormenting his personal valet/servant, Thomas (Sean Hayes), who later reveals his name is actually Matthew. Edward prefers to call him Thomas because he finds the name Matthew too "biblical." Edward drinks a specific variety of coffee called "Kopi Luwak", one of the most expensive coffees in the world.
Carter begins writing a "bucket list," or things to do before he "kicks the bucket" (i.e. dies). After hearing he has less than a year, Carter discards the list. Edward finds it the next morning and urges Carter to do everything on the list (and adds more things to do), and offers to finance the trip for the both of them. Carter agrees, despite the protests of his wife, Virginia (Beverly Todd).
The pair begins an around-the-world vacation. They go skydiving together, drive a Shelby Mustang, fly over the North Pole, eat dinner at Chevre d'Or in France, visit and praise the beauty and history of Taj Mahal, India, ride motorcycles on the Great Wall of China, and attend a lion safari in Africa. Atop the Great Pyramid, looking out over the pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure, they confide about faith and family, revealing that Carter has long been feeling less in love with his wife and that Edward is deeply hurt by his estrangement from his only daughter, who disowned him after he drove away her abusive husband. In Hong Kong, Edward hires a prostitute (Rowena King) for Carter, who has never been with any woman but his wife. Carter declines and, realizing that he loves his wife, asks to return home. On the drive back, Carter reciprocates by trying to reunite Edward with his daughter. Edward angrily storms off. Carter returns home to his wife, children, and grandchildren where they have a nice family dinner telling stories and sharing jokes while a frustrated Edward stays home eating frozen dinners alone.
The family reunion is short-lived. In the preparation for a romantic interlude, Carter suffers a seizure and is rushed to the hospital. The cancer has spread to his brain. Edward, who is now in remission, visits him and they share a few moments, where Carter reveals with great amusement that the origin of the Kopi Luwak Edward enjoys is grown in a Sumatran village, is eaten and defecated by a jungle cat, and is harvested because of the special aroma of the gastric juices. Carter crosses off "laugh till I cry" from his bucket list and insists Edward finish the list without him. Carter goes into surgery, but the procedure is unsuccessful and he dies on the operating table.
As Carter dies and the news is given to his wife and family, Edward finally attempts to reconcile with his daughter. She not only accepts him back into her life but also introduces him to the granddaughter he never knew he had. After greeting the little girl with a kiss on the cheek, Edward crosses "kiss the most beautiful girl in the world" off the list. Edward delivers a eulogy at the funeral, explaining that he and Carter had been complete strangers, but the last three months of Carter's life were the best three months of his. He crosses off "help a complete stranger for the good" from the list.
The epilogue reveals that Edward lived until age 81, and his ashes were then taken to the Himalayas by his assistant Matthew. As Matthew places a Chock full o' Nuts coffee can alongside another can, he crosses off the last item on the Bucket List ("witness something truly majestic") and places it between the cans. Carter's narration reveals the two cans contain their ashes and that Edward would have loved this, because he was "buried on the mountain, and that was against the law."
