Plot: Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is 28 and he gets spinal cancer right at the beginning of the movie. 50/50 is his chance of dying. His best friend Kyle (Seth Rogen) his Mom (Anjelica Huston,) and his girl friend Rachael (Bryce Dallas Howard) try to help as he starts chemotherapy. Soon he meets cute counselor Katherine (Anna Kendrick,) and they flirt as they talk about his feelings.
Review: 50/50 is 50% medical drama and 50% comedy alternately Bro-mance and Rom-Com. Most of the actual jokes are delivered by Seth Rogen who plays a larger-then-life best friend who is obsessed with sex and getting high. Rachael and Katherine are the Rom-Com girls who are perky & cute because of the dialog and facial acting.
The movie is more about being sick than about dying with hospital scenes and getting bald being prominent There are some scenes with older cancer payments that address preparations for death. The film's advice on threat of death is to get high and scream.
The performances were all great especially Howard, Kendrick, Gordon-Levitt. Rogen is a bit of a cartoon character, and Huston did not have a big part. Perhaps the dog could have played a bigger role in consoling Adam.
Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard, Anjelica Huston
Directed by: Jonathan Levine; produced & written by Will Reiser; Will Reiser is a cancer survivor.
Rating: 3.0 stars: Engaging and entertaining, but not inspiring. It is thought-provoking, and the characters are well done. It is worthwhile, but you can't expect a movie about cancer to be fun-to-watch.
More: Everytime I saw Katherine and Adam, I kept thinking that the ethics board would not like what they were doing.
Even more: Writing a good comedy about death instead of about being sick is hard. When I went to the theater I was hoping for a more ambitious film, but this was still good.
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