Release Date: 9/30/2011
50/50 tells the story of Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a 27-year-old healthy guy who is very unexpectedly diagnosed with a rare form of spinal cancer. He has a 50/50 chance of survival. The film follows Adam as he has to deal with not only facing his cancer, but with his overbearing mother (Angelica Huston), a goofy best friend (Seth Rogen) who wants to believe that everything will be fine, a bitchy girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard) who sucks at life, and now a therapist (Anna Kendrick) he’s forced to see at the cancer center.
Cancer and comedy are an unlikely pair, but the movie is certainly not a straight comedy. It’s dealt with in a tasteful matter, using comedy as a coping mechanism. Adam’s cancer helps him realize who and what are important in his life. It moves along at a decent pace, especially with its great soundtrack (Radiohead and Pearl Jam included). Jonathan Levine directed the movie, who has only directed one other feature film, The Wackness, that I have unfortunately not seen yet. It’s written by Will Reiser, who also has not had much experience: he’s previously only written one short. Kudos to both of them for collaborating and making a decent film.
The cast surely helped with that. Gordon-Levitt plays the same kind of sad, likable character that he does in 500 Days of Summer, except with more depth. For most of the film he is very subdued to the point where he’s got to explode at some point – which he does. His most powerful scene, though, occurs right before he goes into surgery towards the end of the film and he finally gives in and shows how incredibly scared he is to die. Rogen also flaunts his acting chops with some serious moments as Kyle. He seemed like he was going to be somewhat annoying at the start of the film but becomes completely enjoyable with his loyalty to his best friend and of course, great comedic timing. I actually laughed out loud a lot throughout the whole movie.
The two young ladies in the film have worked together on the Twilight series in the past – Kendrick as Bella’s annoying school friend Jessica and Howard as Victoria in Eclipse. Kendrick is mostly known for her break-out role in Up in the Air. Here, she is the sweet, girl-next-door type with a little awkwardness. As usual, she is cute and likeable and relatable. Howard, on the other hand, is the opposite, which isn’t a stretch after watching her as the evil Hilly in The Help. Her character, Rachel, has pretty much no redeeming qualities and it’s too easy for the audience to dislike her (at the very least).
Overall, the film was entertaining with a good storyline and good actors, but it was lacking in some areas – like character development. Adam is the lead character who writes radio programs. We learn that he is passionate about radio but it never really progresses to have any meaning. His mother, Diane (Huston), is wonderful but absent for most of the middle of the film, so their relationship is a little weak. Rachel is the worst, but shouldn’t there be SOMETHING good about her to make us feel bad for hating her?
And the ending. I can’t really talk about the ending without spoiling the film, so I won’t. But it’s not the greatest.
IMDB: N/A
Rotten Tomatoes: N/A
Movie Wiseguys: 7/10