Director: Jonathan Levine
Cast: Joesph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard, Phillip Baker Hall, Anjelica Huston
Plot: 27 year old Adam (Gordon-Levitt) learns that he has a very rare form of cancer and has around a 50% chance of surviving. With the help of best friend Kyle (Rogen) and young therapist Katherine (Kendrick) he hopes to overcome it.
Cancer and comedy shouldn't really go together. Cancer and drama sure, but comedy? That's like Hitler doing stand up, which would be admittedly hilarious, but so so wrong. Well it seems cancer can be funny because with new comedy '50/50', based on writer Will Reiser's experience with the big C, we may have our first officially funny cancer comedy. A film that is funny and endearing in equal measure, if you like some d*ck jokes on behalf of Seth Rogen that is.
Joseph Gordon Levitt plays Adam who at the young age of 27 is diagnosed with a rare form of spinal cancer, which as expected changes his life dramatically. His over protective mother (Anjelica Huston) immediately wants to move in with him, his girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard) becomes overwhelmed with the looming responsibility and best friend Kyle goes about trying to raise his morale. But watching how Adam deals with the news of his illness and subsequent affects of it are what works so well about '50/50', with Gordon Levitt giving an incredible and touching performance in a very difficult role.
Rogen is essentially playing Seth Rogen, but with a twist - this time he his good with women. He is hardly stretching himself, but he is of course very comfortable in the role and lots of the film's best laughs do come from him. All the cast are excellent with Kendrick, Huston and Dallas Howard all excelling with the latter having the thankless role of being a heartless b*tch. Aside from her everyone is extremely likeable and they effortlessly put a smile on my face or brought a tear to my eye, the tricky subject matter is handled expertly by all the actors.
The balance of comedy and drama is difficult when dealing with cancer. It can't be too funny because it would be insensitive and it can't be too emotional because it would be depressing, but Reiser and Rogen mostly get the right balance. '50/50' is a funny film, not the funniest of the year, but it is amusing when it needs to be and there is a strong emotional core thanks to Gordon Levitt's solid performance. As expected the laughs drop off in the build up to the climax, which makes for a very affecting ending that may have you reaching for the Kleenex (if that's your brand). The only minor quibble would be a stale middle where things slow down considerably, but it is a brief period that hardly had me looking at my watch.
'50/50' is one my personal favourite for this year. It's a funny heart warming film that manages to make a very difficult topic into an actual comedy. The performances are strong, Gordon-Levitt in particular, and Rogen stretches his acting ability to the limit by again playing himself. There are few films that I have enjoyed as much as this, I completely fell into it; hook, line and sinker. The idea of a cancer comedy will be off putting to many, but '50/50' is more than worth taking a chance on.
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