It’s that moment that everyone fears — sitting and facing a doctor as they tell you that the test results have come back and something is wrong. Very wrong.
For Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)@@http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/05/a-hollywood-movie-takes-on-cancer/@@, a mild-mannered 27-year-old living in Seattle, that moment comes out of the blue, accompanied by a slew of unintelligible medical jargon that essentially means one thing: he has cancer, and he has a 50/50 chance of survival.
For most movies, this subject matter would mean a serious, heart-wrenching story that would cause the audience to cry and feel sad for the rest of the day. And don’t get me wrong, “50/50” has elements of this kind of movie — all of the seriousness, pain and sadness that you would expect — but what it also has is an unanticipated sense of humor, a script that flows between an impressive range of emotions with surprising ease and a cast of actors who make their characters genuine and believable.
Drawing from his own experience with cancer, writer Will Reiser@@http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1672425/#Writer@@ quickly introduces Adam and his diagnosis of spinal cancer, allowing the audience to feel the shock and eventual numbness that he feels as he tries to find the right way to tell the people in his life: his best friend who can’t seem to take anything seriously, his mother who already worries about everything too much and his girlfriend who only seems sort of committed.
As Adam begins seeing a psychologist and starts going to chemotherapy sessions, other emotions begin to form: sadness, anger, terror and surprisingly — a sense of humor. Reiser and director Jonathan Levine@@http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1349522/@@ have a talent for transitioning straight from scenes like an emotional scene between Adam and his mother as they begin to better understand each other, to a drunken scene between Adam and his best friend Kyle (Seth Rogen)@@http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/05/a-hollywood-movie-takes-on-cancer/@@ as Kyle attempts to use Adam’s cancer as a pick-up line at a bar.
These transitions are greatly aided by the wonderful dynamic between Gordon-Levitt and Rogen, who banter and swear back and forth with a simple, natural ease that makes you believe they really have been best friends since high school.
With this sometimes-raucous comedy, the script slowly allows the depth and meaning behind the relationships that Adam has with his best friend, mother and inexperienced therapist to be known to the audience as he realizes the unpredictability of life, death, love and humor.
Gordon-Levitt offers his most honest performance to date as Adam. Becoming his character instead of playing him, Gordon-Levitt brings a subtle, yet powerful depth to a personable character who shifts through many emotions in a short period of time. He successfully transitions from the shocked, quiet guy who keeps saying he is “fine,” to someone who is honest, a little less yielding and no, not fine. Capable of incurring joyful moments and breathtakingly hard-to-watch moments with just a tip of his head or the intonation of one word, Gordon-Levitt’s performance is what sells the story and what allows the audience to become entirely invested in the character.
Rogen and Anna Kendrick (as Katherine, the rookie therapist)@@http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/reviews/story/2011-09-29/50-50/50610942/1@@ also offer solid performances here. Rogen is endearing — sometimes seemingly insensitive — but ultimately reliable, and Kendrick turns awkward situations into at least amusingly awkward and somewhat charming moments.
By the end of the movie, the audience has laughed, cried (or at least considered crying) and has probably thought very seriously about their own lives and the people closest to them. Through its strong performances, seamless transitions and encouragingly optimistic outlook on a grim situation, audiences should walk out of the theater feeling a little drained by the emotion and heart of “50/50,” but smiling nonetheless.
Overall grade: A-