Here’s a second look at my review of 50/50 which comes out today. Go see it. After a month, everything here still rings true. 

popculturebrain:

Review: 50/50

One day I would like to shake the hand of Seth Rogen. Not for writing Superbad or starring in Knocked Up and Freaks and Geeks. Especially not for Zack and Miri or The Green Hornet. But for 50/50. Regardless of your opinion on him, Rogen’s foresight to give life to Will Reiser’s script is, as of now, his most outstanding contribution to humanity. 

50/50 is based on TV producer Reiser’s real life confrontation with cancer in his mid-twenties. Joseph Gordon Levitt plays the autobiographical Adam, Rogen supports as his Seth Rogen-esque best friend (Reiser and Rogen are good friends in real life), and Anna Kendrick rounds out the cast as Adam’s wet-behind-the-ears therapist.  Jonathan Levine (The Wackness) returns to the genre of tortured youth to direct. It’s equal parts tragic cancer drama and R rated bro-comedy; which written out here sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Yet on the script level and on celluloid, it’s a well rounded, charming, hilarious, heart breaking experience. Knowing that Resier dealt with sickness in his own life only reinforces the believability of the film, but even if you weren’t aware of this fact, it would still come across as deeply personal. The way it consistently and methodically weaves in and out of tragedy and comedy is an ultimate reflection of real life. It’s almost startling to think that it comes from a debut feature writer and how well it succeeds at both. Of course, it’s a cliche to say, “I laughed, I cried,” but there are huge belly laughs and gut wrenching moments of despair separated only by seconds.

Not many actors would have been able to pull it off either. Gordon Levitt is well cast as Adam and allows us to root for him despite the character’s many (intentional) flaws. Rogen, who I mentioned above is pretty much playing himself and who played a similar character in the less successful cancer comedy Funny People, is stellar comic relief while showing some subtlety heretofore unseen. Kendrick holds back her layers (layer, rather) but is nimble and cute enough to get by. Unfortunately, Bryce Dallas Howard’s misguided shrew is a bit above her ability and comes across as soulless. Thankfully then, Angelica Huston makes a human out of what could have been a stock overbearing mother.

There’s a bit of heavy-handedness in one over arching metaphor and it seems Adam’s job serves less purpose than it could have (just like how 500 Days of Summer’s Tom was a greeting card writer). That said, these are nitpicks at a deeply impactful, effective film. It’s one that has something to say about life, love, the human condition, and mortality but doesn’t constantly hit you over the head with it. Hopefully the stigma of cancer and a “cancer movie” won’t be a turn off for mass audiences and it will attract the comedy-seekers and tear-jerkers it deserves.

50/50 sees wide release September 30th.