50/50 (2011)

50/50 movie posterJoseph Gordon-Levitt (Inception, G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra) further exemplified what I predicted of him after seeing 2009’s (500 Days) of Summer, which was that he was the next big thing in Hollywood. Gordon-Levitt (just 29 at the time) had already shown his abilities as a supporting actor in several critically acclaimed movies, including Stop-LossThe Lookout, and Brick. However, these movies failed to top $11 million at the box office. (500 Days of Summer generated $32 million domestically and earned Gordon-Levitt a Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical Golden Globe Nomination. Though he did not win the award that year (Robert Downey Jr.’s won for his role in Sherlock Holmes), it opened the door for more starring roles for the young actor. This included the opportunity to star in 50/50, a movie where he earned his second Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical Golden Globe Nomination.

Directed by Jonathan Levine (The Wackness, Warm Bodies), 50/50 tells the story of Adam (Gordon-Levitt), a twenty-something Seattleite who works as a writer for a public radio station. He is a satisfied man with few responsibilities and plenty of time to accomplish everything he wants. When he goes to the doctor for bothersome back pain, he is told that he has a rare spine cancer. In his instant, Adam’s life changes. He is given an outlook of 50/50 on whether he will live or die. He goes through what most people go through when they have cancer. He goes through chemotherapy. He loses his hair. He falls into a state of depression. He learns which people in his life will stick with him through thick and thin and which people will abandon him when the going gets tough. He forms relationships with other cancer patients and welcomes other people into his life which he might not have done had he not gotten sick.

50/50 does a great job of balancing the comedy with the drama. Seth Rogen (Knocked Up, Pineapple Express) can’t help but be funny in his movies, and his scenes as Kyle, Adam’s best friend, are hilarious. Rogen shows his range as an actor in this movie, much like Jonah Hill did in Moneyball. We become so used to actors repeatedly playing a specific type of role that there is an initial shock factor when they play a different character. Adam Sandler first did this in Punch Drunk Love. Jim Carrey did this for the first time in The Truman Show. Will Ferrell did this recently with Everything Must Go. Tom Hanks only did comedies until earning his first Best Actor Academy Award for Philadelphia. Rogen, along with Gordon-Levitt, keep the movie light when it needs to be. If Levine had wanted to, they could have taken this movie differently. He could have made it a much heavier drama, and the film might have received just as much critical acclaim. However, he had the right tools in the right place to do what he wanted with this movie. Because Rogen can show genuine care for his friend during the movie’s heavier moments, we can laugh more easily during comedic scenes.

Anna Kendrick (Up In The Air, Twilight) is brilliant as Katherine, Adam’s young therapist. She is at least the same age as Adam, if not younger. She is new to the business and makes many rookie mistakes to make us laugh. There is also some physical attraction between Adam and Katherine which adds to the awkwardness of the scenes. But like Rogen, Kendrick shows a heartfelt side. This is elevated because she seems to care more about him after their first couple of sessions than  Rachel (Bryce Dallas Howard – Hereafter, The Help) did as Adam’s girlfriend. As the movie progresses, we see that Adam is lucky to have these people in his life. By the end of the film, we like these people so much that we are pulling for Adam to receive the news he is hoping for because we believe the world is better with a person like Adam than it would be without him.

Plot 10/10
Character Development 10/10
Character Chemistry 10/10
Acting 10/10
Screenplay 9.5/10
Directing  9.5/10
Cinematography 7/10
Sound 7/10
Hook and Reel 9/10
Universal Relevance 10/10
93%

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