50/50 is a comedy about a young guy catching cancer. That must have been fun to pitch, because hey, everybody knows how funny cancer is. Most people approaching a comedy about a serious illness would wonder what on Earth the filmmakers were thinking. Put away your doubts though. 50/50 is terrific, never shying away from the life-threatening situation Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) finds himself in, but avoiding sentimentality with razor sharp dialogue. The result is a film that manages to be both laugh out loud funny and genuinely moving.
50/50 based on Will Reiser’s Illness
Screenwriter Will Reiser based his screenplay on his own experiences and it shows. This isn’t some writer who has interviewed a bunch of cancer patients to form a picture in his mind of what this must have been like. Reiser lived through this and some of the scenes are so funny they must surely have taken place. Some stuff you just can’t make up. Seth Rogen, who plays Adam’s best mate Kyle, is Reiser’s friend in real life and the relationship onscreen between is wonderfully realised onscreen with Gordon-Levitt.
Adam is a 27-year old radio producer living in Seattle. Kyle is his co-worker and usually his chauffer because Adam never learnt to drive. Adam is fearful something may happen if he gets behind the wheel. He is fearful like that. A character trait emphasised in the opening credits when he stops jogging at a red light even though there clearly is no traffic coming. Then something does happen, he is diagnosed with a spinal tumour, and has to face up to the prospect he may die.
Those around him react in different ways. Girlfriend Rachel (Bryce Dallas Howard) vows to stand by him, but their relationship seemed to be ending before the diagnosis. Kyle tries to keep his spirits up by taking him out and trying to get him laid. Mom, played by the magnificent Angelica Huston, tries to smother him as she has done for most of his life. Adam bonds with a couple of older patients, (Philip Baker Hall and Matt Frewer) and his inexerienced young therapist Katherine (Anna Kendrick).
50/50 Avoids Schmaltz
Any film mixing comedy and such a serious subject needs to walk a fine line and director Jonathan Levine negotiates these pitfalls with skill. The performances help, with Gordon-Levitt touching and likeable. Rogen’s familiar obnoxious stoner persona is here, but undercut with a genuine concern for his friend even if he has an unconventional way of showing it. Anna Kendrick is lovely and funny and the scenes between her and Gordon-Levitt are sweet. Reiser’s hlarious dialogue, co-written with Rogen is the real star destroying any chances 50/50 will descend into TV movie style schmaltz.
Rating 5/5
- 50/50
- Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick
- Written by Will Reiser, Seth Rogen
- Directed by Jonathan Levine
- Running time 100 mins
- Year 2011
Kevin Sturton - Kevin is a graduate of the 2005 Post-Grad course in Film Journalism run by the BFI and writes mainly about film.
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