The combination of two acting titans — 3-time Oscar champ Jack Nicholson and one-time winner Morgan Freeman — one respected director in the form of Rob Reiner, and an inspiring story about a final road trip seemed to be tailor made for the Academy Awards. But just as it takes a deft hand to make a souffle so it does to pull off a film like this one about two dying men looking to now travel the road not taken. That it ultimately fell flat with the critics was foretold by the absence of any early awards recognition.

At Meta Critic, the 15 reviews surveyed so far yielded a score of 49 while the 34 notices compiled to date by Rotten Tomatoes came to an equally dismissive 47.