Movie Review: 50/50 (2011)
Perfect blend of comedy and drama, but it's the relationships I appreciated most
Photo: Summit Entertainment
With 50/50 there is very little an audience member needs to "get". It's all right there in the title. In the first few minutes of the film we meet Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a seemingly healthy 27-year-old with a career, a girlfriend and his whole life ahead of him. Then there's bad news. Adam learns he has a rare form of spinal cancer and as the title insinuates, there's a 50% chance of survival. Simple, clean, moving on…
The cast includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Bryce Dallas Howard, Anna Kendrick, Anjelica Huston, Philip Baker Hall and Lauren Miller. For more information on this film including pictures, trailers and a detailed synopsis choose from the following menu.
Review
"50/50" is a Summit Entertainment release, directed by Jonathan Levine and is rated R for language throughout, sexual content and some drug use. The running time is 1 hour 39 minutes.
So often a film like this will only give us the story from the perspective of the character at the center of it all. In this case that's Adam and, for the most part, that's exactly what this film does. However, it wasn't until late into the picture where I finally started to clue in to just what exactly Levine and screenwriter Will Reiser had done. Through several subtle character building moments a story is established for the people in Adam's life, established in such a way that you begin to understand what they're dealing with as much you relate to what Adam is going through.
50/50 is as much about cancer and Adam's struggle with the disease as much as it is about those around him, and for that I have a whole other respect for this film. Cancer doesn't just affect the person with it, at least not as long as that person is surrounded by people that love and care for them. Adam is one such person and to watch his friends and family deal with the situation in their own, differing ways is a perfectly placed layer on the cake.
Rogen is equally funny and annoying as Adam's overbearing friend who is certainly far from politically correct when it comes to dealing with Adam's cancer, suggesting he use it to gain sympathy from women. Alternatively, Adam's self-absorbed girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard) finds his cancer a hindrance and his mother (Angelica Huston) approaches it as any worthy mother would, with all the care in the world. "I only smothered him because I love him," she says late in the picture. It's a line that earns a laugh as well as a greater understanding for what she's going through and how she's dealing with it and Huston plays it to the hilt, reaching out to her boy with affection you can't help but be moved by.
However, the one portion of the story I never quite felt worked was the introduction of Katie (Anna Kendrick), Adam's just-out-of-college appointed therapist who's struggling to do and say the right things at every turn. I never quite bought Kendrick as a therapist and I never felt a chemistry between her and Gordon-Levitt. Kendrick feels more like the obvious choice for the role rather than best choice, and she ultimately brings very little to the table, playing more-or-less the same character she played in Up in the Air. It just never feels quite right.
More interesting and therapeutic are Phillip Baker Hall and Matt Frewer as two cancer patients Adam meets and goes through chemotherapy with. Despite a large age and life difference, there's a believable camaraderie that results from the time these three spend together, creating two more strong relationships in Adam's life, and Levine couldn't have found two better people to fill those roles.
This is director Jonathan Levine's second feature film (third if you count his unreleased 2006 feature, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane) following the hipster indie The Wackness back in 2008. I didn't care much for that film, but Levine certainly shows a lot of growth from that movie to this one as well as shows a greater capacity for featuring characters you can actually relate to. Much of that is due to the casting and a spectacular performance from Gordon-Levitt who deserves Oscar attention for what is a fully formed, measured and nuanced approach to a character dealing with a very serious disease and doing so without overly emotional grabs for the audience's affection.
50/50 is just as funny as it is dramatic and heartfelt. It doesn't pander to the audience and is very matter of fact in its dealing with the material. You never feel as if you've been manipulated into caring for the people on screen as much as you genuinely feel for them. If I had to guess, there won't be many dry eyes in the house when this one hits theaters.
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50/50 is Jonathan Levine's third feature. He also directed All the Boys Love Mandy Lane. Saw 50/50 a couple of months ago and really enjoyed it. It had me laughing out loud multiple times throughout the film, while it also made me tear up at other moments.
This is probably my favorite movie of the year so far, I completely agree with you about the relationships of the movie. I can't wait to see this again.
found the film to be cloying at times, insensitive at others. the whole "plot", such as it was, barely rose above sitcom premise. nothing deep here. a purely manufactured movie that's in desperate need of a reality check.
I'm curious, are you saying this out of personal experience?
I am fed up with the gorgeous and talented Bryce Dallas Howard always playing villains now and being typecast after her roles in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, The Help and 50/50.
I can't wait to see this movie. I haven't seen a movie in the theater in well over a year now…Being that I love film, I know that's sad, and I won't give a sob story on the economy…I have to ask though: Did ANYONE see this incredible turn, this incredible potential in Joseph Gordon Levitt? Did ANYONE see this coming from him when he was on 3rd Rock From the Sun? He must have picked up some great advice and tips with the cast he was surrounded with there…and Ten Things I Hate About you is probably the "smartest" stupid teen movie ever made- but WOW. I'm continually impressed by this man. Not only his acting but ability to CHOOSE roles. Apart from his GI:Joe choice, which I think every actor these days has to do a turn on a big budget action flick, from the Lookout, to 500 Days of Summer to Inception the guy deserves all the credit in the world for not only his talent but being incredibly smart, career-wise!
I absolutely loved this movie and I really hope if finds traction with the general audience. In my opinion, this is a film that deserves some Oscar attention and I fear that a disappointing box office return could eliminate it from contention. Everyone should go see this film! I can't imagine that many people would be disappointed!
I loved the movie. My third favorite film of the year. That being said, it would have been first if it wasn't for the cliched happy ending. I would have preferred one that makes most sense.
One of the worst movies I have seen, would've walked out if I hadn't been watching it at home. Right up there with The Family Stone for bad acting and shallow characters. Impossibly miscast psychologist and the rest of the cast coming across as if they had been press-ganged into the film.
Go get a shovel and clean out the barn, it will be more rewarding than watching this!
BillC