Director: Jonathan Levine
Writer: Will Reiser
Starring: Joseph
Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard, Anjelica Huston,
Serge Houde, Matt Frewer, Philip Baker Hall
It’s funny. Before cancer
touches you, it’s just some form of background noise. You don’t like it, and
you feel for those whom it has touched, but it’s never a constant. Once it’s
touched you—and there are few it hasn’t—it seems to show up everywhere. Of
course, a movie about a cancer survivor isn’t really a place you wouldn’t
expect it, but everything within that movie has more meaning than it would
otherwise.
The somewhat
autobiographical “50/50” starts out missing some pieces. Perhaps since the
filmmakers were so familiar with their story, Will Reiser writes from
experience and really is best friends with the movie’s star Seth Rogen, they
don’t realize they’re missing some introductory movements. But, once the film
finds it’s footing, it becomes a good depiction of some of the absurdities that
must be faced by the cancer patient.
I can imagine a very similar
film being made about the family members of a victim of the disease. Much of
the film’s comedy comes from the strange effect the ailment has on those people
surrounding the victim and their families. It as if everyone comes down with
cancer, not just the patient. Everyone has advice to give or a story to tell.
Nobody really knows how to act or what to say. In many ways, it’s all very
comical. The filmmakers here find a good balance with that comedy and the real
emotional weight that comes with a cancer diagnosis.
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