50/50

Movie Name: 50/50

Year of Release: 2011

Director: Jonathan Levine

Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard, Anjelica Houston, Serge Houde, Matt Frewer, Philip Baker Hall, Seth Rogen

Genre: Drama, Comedy

Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 6

Synopsis:

Adam is in his late 20s, has a live-in girlfriend and workouts regularly. Much to his surprise he's diagnosed with cervical cancer. What follows is a grueling set of treatments that progressively make him weaker, while his sentimental life also experiences new lows and also new beginnings.
Director Jonathan Levine follows his feature "The Wackness" with "50/50", based on the life of screenwriter Will Reiser. The film tries to maintain a balance between the dramatic core that generates the entire story, namely the illness of Adam and the humor that is brought by Adam's friend, Kyle, who tries to take some advantage of the situation on the dating field. While the film works dramatically thanks to the interaction between the gifted actors that are Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Anna Kendrick and Anjelica Houston, the more humorous scenes with Seth Rogen feel like material that he has already done in his previous films, that add absolutely nothing to this film in particular. The director tries to maintain a certain detachment from the characters, never going down the melodrama path, which also makes it feel a bit distant to the viewer/audience, but when the final realization comes painfully evident to Adam, we can see the true core of the film. Adam is just a young man trying to live. This is a small film that could have worked far better without the skewed comedic angle, or with a far better actor than Seth Rogen. His eternal frat-boy trying to get dates and being selfish is long overused by now. A film worth watching nonetheless.