50/50 is not your typical cancer movie. Unlike Terms of Endearment, Stepmom, and One True Thing, 50/50 treats cancer with a sense of humor and nonchalance bordering on apathy. Of course, while the aforementioned films focus on middle-aged women with cancer, 50/50's hero is a 27-year-old man, played a little too adorably by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Written by Will Reiser, who was diagnosed with cancer in his mid-twenties (and is now in his 30's), the film can't be accused of being unrealistic. However, it's surprisingly thin on comedy, drama, and character development. A movie in which a young dude is given a 50/50 chance of beating a disease has enormous potential--to be heartbreaking, enraging, hilarious, something. Yet, as much as I chuckled during the movie, I never really thought it lived up to its potential.
Gordon-Levitt plays Adam, a young man who works in radio (at "SPR"--heh). Adam goes in for a check-up since his back has been hurting him and finds out he has a rare type of cancer on his spine. As he begins the process of chemotherapy, his god-awful girlfriend, Rachel (Bryce Dallas Howard, who seems to be type-cast as a bitch these days), attempts to "compartmentalize" his illness by refusing to support him or accept reality. She cheats on him and, when confronted by pictorial evidence, attempts to emotionally blackmail Adam into not dumping her. Ugh. Do people this stupid and terrible actually exist? Sadly, I think the answer may be yes. In any case, with the support of his friend Kyle (Seth "the Bro-gen" Rogen), Adam dumps Rachel and sets out on a revitalizing course of smoking medicinal marijuana and using his bald head to pick up chicks.
By the end of the film, Adam has beaten cancer (at least for now) through surgery, since the chemo didn't work, reconnected with his meddling mother (Angelica Huston), and scored a new girlfriend: his young counselor, Katie (Anna Kendrick). After he's no longer her patient of course. Still, I think that's kind of unethical. Whatever. All's fair in love and cancer!
That's pretty much it. Laughs are mainly provided by Kyle in typical Seth Rogen style. There are a few heartwarming scenes. But overall, the film is bizarrely underwhelming. If I recall correctly, you don't really see the damage cancer can do to the human body. Adam shaves his head, so you don't see him lose his hair. I don't recall any vomiting scenes (although there may have been one). Even after Adam's surgery, which is described as very invasive, he seems totally fine. It's not that I take joy in seeing illness, but 50/50 seemed to completely skip over the realities of cancer that would have made the movie interesting in the first place: i.e. how does an attractive young man, who is mostly concerned with his budding career, women, and friends (all the typical things guys in their 20's are focused on), deal with the indignities of illness? For Adam, the indignities are few and the story never delves too deeply into the complicated emotions surrounding a sickness that would cause almost anyone to have an existential crisis. I didn't want melodrama, but I did want an honest look at how cancer would bodily, emotionally, and spiritually affect a guy in his 20's. Instead, I got marijuana jokes.
50/50 is not an unpleasant film. It's funny and cute--and I get the importance of there being movies about cancer that aren't all Lifetime movie three-hankie weepers. I admire what 50/50 was aiming for, but I felt that it fell short of the mark.
3 out of 5 stars
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