50/50
Starring: Joseph Gordon Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard
Director: Jonathan Levine
Rating: 4/5
Joseph Gordon Levitt is one of the most exciting young actors working in Hollywood at the moment and he has teamed up with funny man Seth Rogen for a comedy about cancer.
Levitt stars as Adam, a careful, considered young man in a faltering relationship with a commitment-shy artist, Rachael (Howard).
When a recurrent back pain is diagnosed as a rare form of spinal cancer, Adam learns not only to deal with his new-found social status as a ‘cancer sufferer’, but also the unpredictable responses of his best friend Kyle (Rogen), his dramatic mother (Anjelica Huston), and even his wet-behind-the-ears counsellor (Kendrick).
Now cancer can a rather tricky subject to tackle but Will Reiser script is both moving and funny, yet the comedy never detracts from the seriousness of the subject matter.
Levitt & Rogen play this one perfectly as the uptight cancer sufferer is balanced beautifully with Rogen’s laid back black humour.
But this movie is not just about battling cancer it’s a story of friendship and being there for one another during times of difficulty.
Not only that the movie looks at the complex nature of relationships; lovers, friends and parents and how they can all be impacted by the ill health of a loved one.
This is an emotionally rich script as Will Reiser draws on his own cancer experience - but the movie doesn’t get caught up in sentimentality or self pity; which is a nice change in this genre.
This is an intelligent script and it balances perfectly the drama, the sympathy and the laughs - it really is a breathe of fresh air when it comes to this genre of film.
But what makes the movie so great are the vivid characters from Adam who marches head first into what lies ahead, to his emotional and overprotective mother, who is played so fabulously by Anjelica Houston to the rookie counsellor who daren’t always say the right thing.
50/50 doesn’t wallow in self pity it is instead an interesting commentary on how we deal with difficult situations and how we cope with what life throws at us.
Don’t be put off by the fact that this is a cancer movie as 50/50 really is amplifying comedy as well as an emotional film that is as much about friends and family as it is about battling this disease.
50/50 is out on DVD & Blu-Ray now
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Seth Rogen Joseph Gordon Levitt Anna Kendrick