I rarely like to rave about movies; most movies nowadays don’t wow me to the point that I’m telling everyone “this is a must see.” 
But if any movie in the last few years deserves that, it’s 50/50.
Directed by Jonathon Levine (All the Boys Love Mandy Lane), 50/50 is the story of 27-year-old Adam (Joseph Gorden-Levitt) and his diagnosis with spinal cancer. Adam begins the movie as an overly cautious young man who thinks driving a car is too risky, but his fight against cancer shoves him outside of his comfort zone in terms of drugs, women and even talking to his family.
Adam’s struggle to cope is exasperated by his overbearing mother (played perfectly by Anjelica Huston of Royal Tenenbaum fame), his best friend (Seth Rogen) exploiting Adam’s cancer to get laid and his therapy sessions with a freshly-graduated 24-year-old counselor (Up in the Air’s Anna Kendrick).
Going into the theater, I was a bit skeptical that 50/50 would just be a young person’s Funny People (both are comedies about cancer, with Seth Rogen as the lovable sidekick, but that is where the similarities end).
What makes 50/50 so successful is the simultaneously upbeat yet realistic path the movie takes. Adam’s journey alternates between hilarious scenes, such as him getting high for the first time (on medicinal marijuana), and then emotionally overwhelming moments like him seeing a family grieving while a body is wheeled from the cancer ward.
At no point, though, do these transitions feel forced. Even when the movie is at its most somber, incredible performances by Gorden-Levitt, Rogen and Huston keep things hopeful.
If you were hoping to see Rogen play something outside of his standard “shallow friend” part, you’ll be disappointed. But while Rogen and Gorden-Levitt might seem like an odd duo, they play off each other wonderfully, and Rogen does a great job as someone watching his best friend fall apart and desperate to keep things the same way they’ve always have been.
Anna Kendrick is the only member of the cast to be hesitant about. At times, she really nailed her role; other times she seemed incredibly awkward next to Gorden-Levitt’s confidence in his. Perhaps that was the intent, but it took me a long time to decide she really did belong in the movie.
And for her small amount of screen-time, Huston absolutely stole the show. She has the task of portraying a woman whose husband has Alzheimer’s, and now her only child has spinal cancer. She is absolutely terrified, but stays as strong as she can be to support her son and husband, all while acting like a typical mother. “Excuse me, it’s cold in here. Could you turn the temperature down? My son has cancer.”
And that’s ultimately where 50/50’s strength lies: the humor prevalent everywhere. In a sense, Will Reiser’s script is autobiographical, as he and Jonathon Levine’s directing makes the dialogue seem real and current.
Will 50/50 be one of the top films of the decade? Hard to say if the demographics who enjoy it will be large enough, but it certainly deserves to be. See 50/50 if you’re looking for a movie that will make you laugh while you feel like crying.
Richard Solomon can be reached at richard.solomon@spartans.ut.edu.
CRITIC’S RATING: 4/5