History:
Seattle native Adam Lerner (Joseph Gordon Levitt) learns he has contracted a rare form of bone marrow cancer, but because he would not run, he turns to his girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard), Rachel, his best friend, Kyle (Seth Rogen), her mother (Anjelica Huston) and a shockingly young therapist (Anna Kendrick), anyone who tries their best to pass it during difficult times.
Analysis:
Jonathan Levine, the third film, his follow-up on the highly underrated "The Wackness" is based on a "blacklist" script by Will Reiser, formerly called "I am a cancer" that was developed by guy behind "Superbad," Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. While this may make you think, to expect a lot of R-rated comedy Stoner - and there is something for sure - it's more a seriocomic look on how to treat the symptoms of a debilitating disease without leaving destroy their lives.
Adam Lerner was having back problems and when having examined them, he learns he has contracted a rare form of bone marrow cancer. Since it does not roll, it must rely on those around him to make his salary - his girlfriend, the artist Rachel (Bryce Dallas Howard) is committed to helping you get through Adam, but it quickly becomes obvious that "is not the work, while his best friend Kyle (Seth Rogen) has only two things in mind: sex and smoking marijuana, but it's there for his best friend. Adam also required to take the therapy sessions with a therapist very little experience and movement, played by Anna Kendrick, and becomes friends with two former colleagues chemotherapy patients, played by Philip Baker Hall and Matt Freu. As his condition worsens, Adam discovers that Rachel has been cheating on him and with the help of Kyle, kicked to the curb, but things get worse as it becomes clear that Adam will have an operation that can not survive.
At first it feels like Gordon-Levitt is not too far from breaking the roles we have seen play before - go ahead and do "(500) Days of Summer" joke - but when it gets deeper in her chemo, we begin to see the different facets of nature that comes out of the bitterness and anger of his situation. It is simply not about to shave their heads, something we really do see Levitt in a scene very funny, but it completely changes his body language as he succumbs to the disease and go through an incredible transformation .
Rogen is undoubtedly must be added the comic, and he did a fantastic job providing the kind of R-rated laugh at those who are accustomed to, and played very well against Gordon-Levitt. Of course, there is a lot of talk about the pot pipe and snuff, but there is an intensity of their relationship that only come much later. Both are very good on screen together, the skinhead scene as a high point, but to have fun with a scene in which Adam Kyle plays end, when trying to use a type of cancer over time.
For the remaining votes could not be more perfect for a mother played by Anjelica Huston, and although she appears only briefly in the film, they are all important sequences. The same can be said about the character of Kendrick rapidly evolving in the kind of quick-witted actress who "Annie Hall" Woody Allen would have liked the time. His scenes with Gordon-Levitt is really the icing on the cake because they have a very different chemistry he has with Rogen.
It is not all laughs, however, and the movie quite dark at times, but never so dark you can completely turn off an audience looking for fun from time to time. Overall, a wonderfully well-rounded look at how cancer affects the afflicted and those around them, and how to deal with some of the things that arise, and find a satisfactory way to finish the film in an upbeat, without Copping to out.
Directed by Jonathan Levine 50/50
Reviewed by: Edward Douglas
Rating: 9 out of 10
Movie Details: View here
Cast:
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Adam
Seth Rogen as Kyle
Anna Kendrick as Katie
Bryce Dallas Howard as Rachael
Anjelica Huston as Diane
Marie Avgeropoulos as Allison
Lauren Miller as Dog Walking Girl
Jessica Parker Kennedy as Jackie
Philip Baker Hall
Will Reiser as Greg
Laura Bertram as Claire
Sugar Lyn Beard as Susan
Luisa D'Oliveira as Agabelle Loogenburgen
Andrew Airlie as Dr. Ross
Sarah Smyth as Jenny
Veena Sood as Nurse Stewart
Serge Houde as Richard
Daniel Bacon as Dr. Phillips
William 'Big Sleeps' Stewart as George