50/50 is something that you don’t see very often: a movie that’s almost entirely predictable, yet completely honest and original. Let’s be frank: it’s a heartwarming comedy-drama based on a true story of a young guy’s struggle with cancer. How do you think it ends? The fascinating thing about 50/50 though, is that it doesn’t matter.
This is also probably the first movie in history that is entirely about cancer (not counting documentaries). Many plots have centered around the impact of a life-threatening disease: Royal Tenenbaums, Bucket List, Funny People, and everything Nicholas Sparks has ever written. But this is the first time that a movie has, in itself, tried to completely represent the experience of having cancer. There is, of course, plenty of drama going on around the cancer, involving the friends and family of the protagonist, Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). But we rarely, if ever, see these people on their own, apart from him. We follow behind Adam’s shoulder through the whole movie, because the movie isn’t really about his social life. It’s about the cancer. If you were asked to describe the plot of this movie, you wouldn’t say, “it’s about a guy with an overbearing mom”, or, “it’s about two best friends living together.” You would describe it with one word: “cancer.” If you had to describe the overall theme behind the movie, it would be “cancer.” And years from now, if someone were to ask you, “hey, what was the name of that one cancer movie?”, it’s probably a safe bet that 50/50 will still be the only response.
Not only is this movie based on a true story, one of the most crucial people in that story has a starring role as himself. Seth Rogen’s friend, Will Reiser, was the one who came face-to-face with the silent killer in real life, and he took the liberty of writing one hell of a screenplay about it. The plot requires nearly no explanation: after complaining of back pain, the protagonist learns from a doctor with an ice-cold demeanor that he has an extremely rare form of spinal cancer, a freak chance of genetics (as Adam himself says, “I don’t smoke, I don’t drink... I recycle.”) How accurately Adam’s experience mirror’s Reiser’s own is irrelevant; what matters is that he created a brilliantly human story, from a subject that could have all-too-easily slid into a trap of heavy-handedness and saccharine.
Seth Rogen, as mentioned, plays himself, as “Kyle”, Adam’s roommate. A friend once said of Seth Rogen’s career, “No Acting Required.” And though this seems like it would be more true for this movie than anything, he poured his heart into this movie in a way that had yet to be seen, and may not be seen again, in any of his films. Of course, Seth’s presence immediately demands comparison to all the other participants in the wave of “heartfelt-but-R-rated” comedies that Judd Apatow kicked up when he made 40-Year-Old Virgin all those years ago. But this movie isn’t quite like Knocked Up, or even Superbad, another film lifted from Rogen’s real-life experiences. Somehow, the dialogue in this movie sounds like real people having real conversations, instead of a bunch of comedy actors improvising pop-culture analogies.
However, Rogen isn’t the only one who acts the hell out of this movie. You may have already heard plenty of buzz about Anjelica Huston’s role as the aforementioned overprotective mother. Bryce Dallas Howard fits right in to her role as Adam’s girlfriend, a girl with even more problems than the mom. And Anna Kendrick proves, in the wake of Up In The Air, that she is more than a one-trick pony. Her role is especially crucial, as she provides another example of how the movie manages to subvert its own predictability. Her character, the “psychiatrist with her own set of issues to work out”, has of course been done to death, but she makes her book-smart, socially-dumb awkwardness believable and real.
That’s the strength of this movie: it does for human interaction what countless “indie” movie have tried and failed to do over the past decade. Unlike “Juno”, or the previous Apatow comedies, it refuses to drown in its own quirkiness. Nothing in this movie is a quirk for quirk’s sake, and because the creators have abandoned this barrier between the audience and the movie, we feel what we are supposed to feel as an audience. Even though the subject matter presumes itself to be dead-serious from the beginning, it never insists on us, never forces us to feel something, never becomes “cancer just for the sake of cancer.” And if you’re now worried that you won’t be able to make it through this one without a good supply of Kleenex, rest assured, it is still a comedy at heart. And it’s funny. Not only is it funny, it’s naturally funny: we don’t need a clearly-stated punchline and pause to understand when we’re supposed to laugh in this movie. Two of the best comedic roles in the movie go to Matt Frewer and Philip Baker Hall (The latter is one of those character actors that you’ve seen a million times but just can’t place. He was the guy in Boogie Nights who convinced Burt Reynolds to switch to videotape.) The pair plays a couple of old dogs who Adam meets through his chemo treatment, and turn Adam on to the benefits of medical Marijuana, in addition to providing an uplifting perspective. Seth Rogen, as mentioned, turns in possibly the best performance of his career, so it goes without saying that most of the laughs come from him. The amazing thing is how he is able to make us laugh even during one of the most emotional scenes (without spoiling anything, the scene is about 1/3rd of the way in... you’ll know it when you see it.) But the bulk of the praise has to go to Mr. Gordon-Levitt. He’s the reason that this movie is able to get so up-close and personal with cancer. His Adam is heartbreakingly familiar, a guy you could swear you’ve known all your life. But no matter who you identify with most, see this movie. If anything ever deserved an Oscar, this is it.
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