50/50 (2011)

As much as film enthusiasts such as myself may write paragraph after paragraph about how a movie has to do something “different” and “original” in order to be great, sometimes that mentality is just plain wrong. If you don’t believe me, allow me to direct your attention toward 50/50, the wonderful new film directed by Jonathan Levine. Throughout history, no less than a kajillion (to use the scientific term) movies and television shows have been about cancer and how various characters choose to face. Often this diagnosis causes these fictional people to poetically reflect on their lives and mortality in general, and occasionally they may decide the best course of action is to start cooking crystal meth, get involved in the New Mexico drug trade and ultimately find themselves flushing their mortality down the toilet. 50/50 doesn’t quite go that far; it is instead an utterly real portrait of a man who just tries to approach his life day-by-day in the wake of the devastating news. There’s nothing exciting going on in his life, and he doesn’t try to do anything dramatically different after being diagnosed. He just has to deal with it, as undesirable as it may be.

The cancerous one here is Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a 27-year-old public radio employee who is given this shocking information entirely out of the blue. He is completely healthy. He doesn’t smoke, he is perfectly fit, and he is in a seemingly stable relationship with his girlfriend Rachel (Bryce Dallas Howard). When he learns of the cancer, he’d prefer to keep things as they are, but everyone else tries to “help” in their own way. His mother (Anjelica Huston) becomes slightly more clingy, his best friend (Seth Rogen) tries to keep him focused on the positive, and his surprisingly young therapist (Anna Kendrick) attempts to get through to him. Strangely, the only person who begins to grow distant is Rachel.

50/50 is a heartbreaking-yet-frequently hilarious film about how something terrible like cancer can expose the true colors of those around you. Before Adam became cognizant of his disease, he was entirely happy with the way his life was going. In many ways, he was blind to the faults in his own personality and his relationships. While his battle with cancer makes things exponentially more unpleasant, it also provides him with several moments of clarity he wouldn’t have had otherwise. And in many ways, he isn’t incredibly happy with what he discovers. He wants things to be normal, but he knows that his disease automatically renders things abnormal. He is told he is going to die, but right now he’s stuck in a not-so-wonderful life.

All this undersells just how genuinely funny the movie is, even if most of the laughter comes with a big old lump in the throat. There are no large comic setpieces to be found here, and all the humor comes exclusively from the interactions between the characters. I suppose comparisons with Judd Apatow’s Funny People can’t be helped considering the subject matter and the presence of Rogen, but both films have very different ambitions. While frequently a mess, Funny People was Apatow’s valiant attempt at creating a film about the entire world of stand-up comedy and how it can lead to dark, unpleasant places. The cancer story was just a catalyst for the film’s real conflicts. 50/50 is more universal in its approach to the subject matter, and it is packed with moments that just about anyone can identify with. In many ways, 50/50 better resembles Apatow’s Knocked Up, which brilliantly balanced its dirty humor with a story about two different people who try to cope with the situation that’s unwittingly been placed in their lap.

50/50 was written by Will Reiser, who apparently wrote the film based on his own life experiences. While the story told isn’t wholly autobiographical, it often feels like a survivor’s tale; a film that could only be written by someone who had been there and done that. It all comes through perfectly in Gordon-Levitt’s memorable performance in the lead role. You can see the sickness right there in his eyes in scene after scene. He knows he may die at any moment, but as of right now he’s still here, and he’s not entirely sure how he feels about it. Adam is constantly surrounded by those who try to care for him, and yet he feels isolated in his own diseased bubble. Only fellow chemo patients such as Alan (Philip Baker Hall) and Mitch (Matt Frewer) give him an opportunity to connect with those who understand.

Just about everything is straightforward in 50/50, but never to a fault. What would otherwise feel conventional is wholly earned thanks to Reiser’s smart writing and the fleshed-out performances of the cast. Sometimes as a filmgoer you just have to throw out all the extraneous stuff and accept when a movie hits every moment out of the park, as simple as they may seem. It is one of the better cancer-centric films in a long time, mostly due to the fact that it never reaches for Oscar-baity moments even when the opportunity presents itself. It resists moments of melodrama and instead opts to follow Adam as he is slowly pushed to the lowest point of his life. Once the cancer comes, a world that has long been familiar and friendly to him ultimately becomes foreign and alienating. Adam feels like the world has turned its back on him, even if that’s not actually the case.

GRADE: A

50/50 will be released nationwide on September 30^th.