In 50/50 Joseph-Gordon Levitt plays a 27 year old, hardworking radio producer living in rural Seattle named Adam. Adam's life is turned upside down after he goes to the doctor complaining of back pain and leaves finding out he has cancer in his spine. As if Adam doesn't have enough enough on his plate he has to deal with an over-emotional mother (played by Anjelica Huston), a girlfriend who's cheating on him (played by Bryce Dallas Howard), a best friend who wants to use his cancer to get him laid (played by Seth Rogen), and a psychiatrist, who isn't even a real doctor and is younger than he is (played by Anna Kendrick).
The movie starts out with us seeing Adam's everyday life; he wakes up, hangs out with his girlfriend before meeting up with his best friend Kyle to go to work at a local Seattle radio station, where they both act as producers. After Adam gets diagnosed with cancer, his life begins to spiral out of control as we see him struggle with everyday things. And poor Adam, everytime he seems to begin to cope with one aspect of his cancer (or it's treatment), something happens that makes him rethink everything and you as the viewer can't help but feel for this 27 year old going to 4 hour chemo treatments and to leave the hospital just to find he has no ride, since his girlfriend stood him up and doesn't arrive until hours later.
Now although this movie seems like a tragedy, or a drama it's really quite lighthearted and funny a lot of the time. The title 50/50 comes from Adam's cancer survival rate (50%) but it might as well be the percentages for how serious this movie is (50% of the time). Now making a movie about cancer is not easy.... Making a funny movie about cancer is damn near impossible! However director Jonathan Levine pulls it off in a way only a great director with a great script can, by surrounding themselves with great actors who don't only care about the movie but believe in the director's vision. This is exactly what 50/50 does, this is a bunch of indie kids banning together to make a mainstream indie film, might I suggest Jonathan Levine's "The Wackness" JGL's "Brick" and "The Lookout" and lest we forget Anna Kendrick's small but awesome role in "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World".
The one thing that surprised me the most about this film was the absence of Seth Rogen's character throughtout the film. In my opinion this movie was marketed as a buddy film about cancer so I was definitely surprised to see that Rogen wasn't on screen anymore than Anna Kendrick or even Bryce Dallas Howard. However it worked well in that regard because Rogen played his usual pot-headed, sex loving self that seems to pop up in most films starring him.Kendrick's character is probably the most memorable, aided by her strong performance in the role, even when her character of psychiatrist in training Katie McKay you keep thinking back to her and think to yourself what would she say if she seen this? What would she do if Adam does this? And so on.
So overall this movie is a feel good story that pulls at your heartstrings just enough to not make it sappy. Just funny enough to not make you question if you should be laughing this much at cancer, so in short it's funny and sentimental but doesn't beat you over the head with either emotions. You admire the whole cast from JGL going from breakdown to breakdown as depression sets in, to Rogen proving he has a softer side as he struggles with his best friends possible impending death and Kendrick's inexperience in therapy which makes her and her techniques more forgivable in the end and because of that she makes us happy she graced us with her presence in every scene she's in, including an impromptu car cleaning at the side of the road.
In closing, you should see this movie, probably in theatres because you shouldn't wait, but if you're the emotional type stay home, close the windows and lock the doors, grab a box of kleenex and just watch until the credits begin to roll. At this point I'd like you to count how many tissues you used when you cried and how many you used when you laughed so hard you cried and see what side of the 50/50 ratio you came out on.
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