Review of 50/50 starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen.
50/50 successfully navigates a very tricky line between pathos and humor – and nails them both in the process. Joseph Gordon-Levitt knocks it out of the park as the main character Adam (possible Oscar nod, I’m thinking), Rogen is wonderful as his loudmouth pal and Anna Kendrick, Anjelica Huston and Bryce Dallas Howard each rock in their own respective roles. The film smacks of recognizable realness (especially when compared to another recent hipster-with-a-tumor show, Gus Van Sant’s RESTLESS -- which this leaves in the dust). It offers a new and refreshing take on cancer diagnosis and the daily, often banal squirms and struggles to follow, in a way that’s neither condescending nor sentimental nor cutesy. And the humor is delightful. It’s even got a fantastic soundtrack. This “cancer comedy” – an idea that sounds so dreadful on its face – really wowed me in the end.
It’s inspired by a true story, and written by the real-life Adam -- Will Reiser -- who’s actually buddies with Seth Rogen, meaning the latter reenacted his experiences. Adam is a writer for Seattle Public Radio, a cute, self-effacing, mellow guy thrown for a loop when the source of his back pain is revealed to be a tumor growing along his spine -- he thought it was due to his positions during sex. “I don’t smoke. I don’t drink… I recycle?” Alas, his cancer’s genetic.
One of the movie’s many effective, even entertaining facets – the title by the way refers to Adam’s chances, which best friend Kyle (Rogen) greets with relief, “That’s not bad! You’d have the best odds if you were a casino game” -- is the wild variety of awkward reactions to his depressing news from friends, family, coworkers and strangers. His mother (Huston) tearfully insists on moving in; his girlfriend Rachael (Howard) adopts a frozen, deer-in-headlights smile, clearly uncomfortable with the news; Kyle wants to throw up, then later pushes Adam to use it to his advantage to bed the ladies (Kyle uses a “my best friend has cancer” line himself to get some action); his boss grabs him in a drunken embrace and says he’ll miss him… And then there’s the unwanted advice, pity, phony good cheer and life clichés, not to mention at least one girl who finds his fight with the big C a turn-on. (Unfortunately, the sex is too painful for Adam’s back.)
When he starts chemo -- Rachael stays in the car to avoid the hospital’s negative energy -- Adam meets fellow cancer survivors (Matt Frewer and Philip Baker Hall, the latter in yet another memorable turn) enthusiastically introducing themselves by name-comma-disease, i.e. “Fred Smith, Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma!” After informing him that the treatment will make his balls shrink and dick “a source of constant disappointment,” the older men cajole him into joining them in their pot brownies. Then the blissfully stoned Adam roams the corridors with a shit-eating grin before engaging in the otherwise deadly serious business of taking toxins into his body – and Tal Bachman’s “You Don’t Know What It’s Like” blasts overhead in one of the movie’s many inspired, yet unlikely, song choices.
The therapist he’s assigned is Katherine (a perfect Anna Kendrick), a 24-year-old working on her doctorate and young enough not to know who Doogie Howser is. (“Does he work here?”) She’s especially keen on quantifying Adam’s each and every mood -- suggesting, for instance, that his sense of calm on a given day is “shell shock” or “emotional numbness,” but consistently emphasizing that he’s normal, it’s all good! Armed with New Age music and textbook quotes, she means well -- and he endures her robotic inability to touch his arm in a way that doesn’t feel forced (“Like being slapped by a sea otter”). But he also refuses her the satisfaction of ever agreeing with her conclusions.
You might expect the BFF to be agreeable and supportive to a fault, but when Adam shaves his head Kyle groans throughout about what an awful idea it is and how weird he’s going to look. I expected his obviously rotten girlfriend to leave upon hearing the news, but the self-absorbed Rachael guilts herself into halfheartedly standing by and buys him a strange-looking, retired race dog named Skeletor to fill her absences (which occur often) until Kyle finally catches her cheating. (Kyle’s photographic evidence of her philandering is as cover-your-eyes awkward as it is a cathartic dressing-down of an awful human being.)
My point is that little to nothing in 50/50 is predictable, and it altogether avoids the pitfalls in past howlers concerning pretty folk checking out early, from 70’s drip-fest LOVE STORY to Julia Roberts’s DYING YOUNG. (And so many more.)
This atypically hilarious movie also boasts choice one-liners, from “No one wants to fuck me, I look like Voldemort” to Kyle’s mockery of Adam’s last-minute desire to drive a car for the first time: “That’s your make-a-wish? To drive?” Their frank blowjob talk while in line for coffee at a café is great stuff too.
50/50 will touch you too, from Adam’s semi-crazy mom coming to the rescue at the one moment he needs her to his words of love to an Alzheimer’s-riddled father, and eventual emotional breakdown. If the film doesn’t make you cry, it will at least have you misty-eyed. (And don’t let this scare you, guys.)
Chalk this up as one of this fall’s best picks.
Genre/s: Comedy Drama
Release Date/s: September 30, 2011 (Showtimes & Tickets)
Distributor: Summit Entertainment
Production Company:
Official Site: Official Site for 50/50
CAST and CREW FOR 50/50
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Anjelica Huston.
Directed By: Jonathan Levine
Written By: Will Reiser
Produced By: Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen and Ben Karlin