Nicholson, Freeman chemistry rescues ‘The Bucket List’ from a terminal script In theaters

THE BUCKET LIST, directed by Rob Reiner, written by Justin Zackham, 97 minutes, rated PG-13.

Rob Reiner’s new fairy tale about living and dying with terminal cancer is called “The Bucket List,” in which two of our finest living actors – Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson – improve upon the manufactured material by the sheer strength of their talent and chemistry.

From Justin Zackham’s script, this unlikely, mostly feel-good movie allows its two main characters to live out their life’s fantasies by compiling a “bucket list” of all the things they want to do before they kick the bucket. Since their wishes are steeped in financial extremes – no average person struggling with the cost of health care could afford such extravagances – the movie eschews reality for the balm of going out with a bang.

In the film, Freeman is Carter Chambers, a genius mechanic and “Jeopardy!” whiz who is no stranger to cancer. He has been down this road before, and when the bad news strikes that his cancer has returned, he finds himself back in the hospital where he undergoes his last possible hope for a full recovery with the help of an experimental drug. His worried wife, Virginia (Beverly Todd), is at his side, but as Carter notes in one telling scene about their relationship, he has forgotten when walking down the street without holding her hand wasn’t unthinkable.

Nicholson is Edward Cole, the difficult, wealthy owner of the hospital in which Carter is convalescing. When Edward coughs up blood into a handkerchief one afternoon, it’s off to his own hospital for him. There, after brain surgery, he learns that his own time on Earth is limited to six months, maybe a year. Same as Carter.

Though Cole is a cruel, egomaniacal billionaire, he nevertheless agrees to share a room with Carter because his snappy assistant, Thomas (Sean Hayes), has a mind for PR and doesn’t believe Edward should face the media ramifications of breaking his golden rule – two beds to one room, always.

Whether you buy into that or not, this contrivance nevertheless allows the two men to become friends. In the film’s early scenes, it also allows for some genuine moments of kindness, reflection and manly bonding before – shazam! – the men are heroically well enough to jump out of airplanes, journey to the south of France for dinner, visit the Taj Majal, the Great Wall of China and the pyramids, and even climb the Himalayas, among other things, in spite of still sporting catheters.

While there is a kind of fizzy, dreamlike joy to be had in watching these men live out their final days with the unlikely energy they have found to do so, anyone on intimate terms with cancer might be left lifting an eyebrow or two at the ease with which the director and writer overlook the realities of the disease. Also, given the strength of the actors, some might come to this movie with their own bucket list – perhaps they’ll find a great script that isn’t canned or, barring that, performances from Freeman and Nicholson that are reasonably diverting.

They get the latter.

Grade: C+

On DVD and Blu-ray

MR. WOODCOCK, directed by Craig Gillespie, written by Michael Carnes and Josh Gilbert, 90 minutes, rated PG-13.

Craig Gillespie’s “Mr. Woodcock” is a tense comedy about a verbally and physically abusive physical education teacher.

It’s for those who remember the days when the bad guy at school wasn’t just the bully in the next seat, but an ex-jock whose life peaked when he was 17 and who now possesses the authority that comes with age, position and a whistle. For some, all those good memories and more will come spilling back while watching “Woodcock,” a movie that stars Billy Bob Thornton in the title role.

And what a title! Nothing subliminal there.

Now about that role. Embracing his inner “Bad Santa” is Thornton, who obviously takes perverse delight in being one mean, uncompromising s.o.b. onscreen, particularly if children are on the receiving end of his wrath.

That the actor is willing to go for it in “Woodcock” is good because what nobody wants in a movie about a cruel gym teacher who picks on his students and barks out orders like a drill sergeant on crystal meth is any trace of humanity. We want the real thing – a monster with no redeeming values. Thornton gives us just that, and God bless him for it.

Too bad about the movie, though, which focuses much of its attention on John Farley (Seann William Scott), a best-selling author whose self-help book, “Letting Go,” is all about living in the now and leaving behind all of the negative stuff that might have befallen one in the past.

You know, like being pummeled in front of your peers by Mr. Woodcock.

While John’s book suggests popular ways of letting go, what becomes increasingly clear is that John himself can’t do the same. The moment he learns that his widowed mother, Beverly (Susan Sarandon), is dating his old archnemesis Woodcock, whose virility is a thing of legend, let’s just say that the past becomes present, though in ways that don’t make for a particularly funny movie.

Grade: C-

Visit www.weekinrewind.com, the archive of Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s reviews, which appear Mondays, Fridays and weekends in Lifestyle, as well as at bangordailynews.com. He may be reached at christopher@weekinrewind.com.