USA
Recognizable Faces:
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Seth Rogen
Bryce Dallas Howard
Anjelica Huston
Directed By:
Jonathan Levine
I really thought, heading to the theater to go see 50/50, that I was lining myself up for another one of those social compromise movies. Well, I was wrong. 50/50 turned out to be a very tricky kind of movie to pull out. It's one of those "real people with real problems" films and yet it's a comedy. This could have turned wrong in so many ways, starting with by being an overly emotional movie who recklessly tries to pull the tears off your eyes socket. I hate when movies do that. But fortunately for me, 50/50 manages to avoid every traps and clichés and remains a comedy with an extremely serious subject matter. I have been extremely lucky as of late, to stumble upon movies that are (almost) untouched by the big dirty paws of Hollywood's executives. Small budget films lead by good, smart writing and cohesive efforts. I can't really tell you 50/50 is some kind of spectacular extravaganza or a cinematographic summit of intensity, but it's really good at what it does and it manages to keep you tense and guessing for the fate of its character.
It's not a complicated story. Adam (Gordon-Leavitt) and Kyle (Rogen) and best friends, working in a radio station. They are young, foolish and have a lot of fun together. But the fun come to a screeching halt when Adam learn that his recurring back pains are caused by a malignant tumor. In fact, it's a very rare form of cancer he has only 50% of the chances to beat. When disaster strikes in somebody's life like this, you see who your real friends are. It's exactly what happens to Adam. His girlfriend Rachael (Howard) is starting to get mysteriously erratic around him, his parents (who he seems to have a huge personality clash with) are bouncing back in the picture and Kyle? Kyle's there. He's been there before the diagnostic and he's even more present afterwards, not trying to bounce back wherever it would be easier for him. There's also this new therapist he's been assigned for emotional support, Katherine (Anna Kendrick) who kinda sucks at her job, but seems to like Adam enough.
Shooting such a minimalist movie is no easy task. Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are carrying the fate of the film on their shoulders, because it's really their friendship that's put forward. Since they are both very good at what they do (Rogen at being funny and Gordon-Levitt at being a chameleon), they are pulling it off gracefully. There is a real chemistry in between the two actors, something that resonates with real life because there are many people that are friends the way Adam and Kyle are. The quiet guy and the loudmouth. It's a very common pair. They make Will Reiser's script shine (I don't know if it's true, but I heard it's based on Reiser's experience as a cancer survivor). They have a great pacing to their humor and understand each other on set. I know it's kind of a review cliché, but they make you want to be their friends. They have a strength together that makes the joking with the Damocles sword of cancer over their head, seem really on par with the tone of the movie. They joke because they want to forget, get their minds of the terrible reality. Not because they can't take anything seriously.
The alchemy of 50/50 rests on a few things, but who cares, because it works. While I am very concerned about its fate against the blockbusters (you know, like that stupid movie with Taylor Lautner), but it works magnificently well in my local arthouse theater on a Sunday evening. 50/50 won't spare you the realities of cancer and yet it will make your laugh out loud and see through the character of Kyle what the nature of real friendship is about. "Friend" is a word often tossed around, but it's more than that. It's a code of conduct and a way of life once you chose the right people to give yourself to. Hopefully, it can get Seth Rogen's acting career back on track and fortunately, he can chose the right roles for him this time. I'm not worried for Joseph Gordon-Levitt though. 50/50 is another example of his tremendous talent and the director Jonathan Levine does everything to give him the center stage. I didn't talk a lot about the direction in this review because it's really an acting-centered movie, like I think all comedies should be. Levine's well-studied way of getting out of the portrait gave justice to the tremendous material he was working with. Not the loudest movie out there, but 50/50 will have a long life. If not in theater, on the DVD/Blu-Ray shelves.
SCORE: 85%