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Review of film: “50 / 50”
This 99-minute R-rated film (opening 9-30-11) was directed by JONATHAN LEVINE...
... Adam (JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT) is a 27-year-old working at a California RADIO station with his best friend Kyle (SETH ROGAN)...
... Joe is a comparatively “serious”-minded guy who’s been having some problems with his live-in painter GIRLFRIEND Rachael (BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD)...
... Altho Joe finds it a bit hard to “deal” with his pushy “smothering” mother Diane (ANGELICA HUSTON), he still tries to be THOUGHTFUL & periodically goes with Bryce to dinner at the home Angelica shares with his fairly-quiet father...
... Seth, in contrast to Joe, is a carefree “JOKESTER” who seldom takes anything seriously, & who keeps trying to get Joe to “LIGHTEN-UP” in life...
... At one point, after suffering from some health “anomalies”, he goes to his DOCTOR for a checkup... He is stunned to hear that they’d discovered a very serious cancerous TUMOR inside his spinal area that required IMMEDIATE remedy (including CHEMO therapy)...
... Joe goes thru various “STAGES” in trying to deal with the frightening news... First, he’s hit with general DISBELIEF (DENIAL) that such a thing can be happening to someone so young who’d been quite HEALTHY in his life...
... With considerable difficulty, he later tells SETH about the news. Seth is equally confused & disbelieving, at first thinking he’s sort of KIDDING...
... Then, not knowing just how to “handle” the situation, Seth tries resorting to HUMOR – which Joe doesn’t find all that “funny” (tho the audience reveled in his discomfortable nuttiness & attempts to “CHEER-UP” Joe with his off-beat comments)...
... Joe tries to be “calm” as he listens to ill-at-ease Seth try to “CHEER” him up by saying things like, well, the doctor’s prognosis that Joe has a “50/50” chance of survival is pretty “good”-- especially if they were the odds at a “CASINO”, for example!...
... In short order, Rachael finds SHE doesn’t want to “deal” with Joe’s mounting problems, & LEAVES him in time...
... That makes Joe’s life all the more difficult, & Seth keeps trying to “LIGHTEN” his outlook with his off-kilter comments such as, Joe should use his misfortune to try to get with NEW girls by playing on their “SYMPATHY”...
... But, Seth soon sees that Joe’s using his idea of being BLUNT about his condition (such as quickly telling the girl, hey, by the way, he has CANCER--) in actuality does NOT generate any “POSITIVE” response from the women!...
... In time, Joe starts getting increasingly DEPRESSED over his situation... The chemo treatments cause his HAIR to start falling out, &, to try to not look ridiculous (via “splotchy” scalp or the like), he decides to SHAVE OFF the hair on his head...
... He wants SETH to help him with his plan-- but Seth grows “SQUEAMISH” by it all... Then (as shown in the trailers for the movie), Seth offers Joe a body shaver & Joe (in a FUNNY scene) tries to get details from Seth about what he’d USED it for in the past...
... Realizing he has more “important” matters to deal with, Joe just shaves his OWN head with the shaver...
... Since Joe is growing more & more dejected, he eventually agrees to see a therapist “COUNSELOR” about his situation...
... When he (wearing a knit cap) goes in, the woman who’s there to help him -- Katie (ANNA KENDRICK) -- looks to be unusually YOUTHFUL. When he asks, he finds out that she’s in-essence still in “training” & is 4 years YOUNGER than he is...
... That situation makes things she says quite DIFFICULT for him to “ACCEPT”—especially when the “suggestions” she makes for his “bettering” his attitude seem very UNREALISTIC to him...
... Joe (an inherently good-hearted young man) tries to be “TACTFUL” in his various sessions with her, trying to let her down “easily” in making clear her ideas cannot be easily “FOLLOWED” by him overall...
... Bit-by-bit, he grows more & more ANGRY over his situation... Seth keeps trying to be “UPLIFTING” & cheerful, but it becomes more & more difficult for both of them...
... In time, Joe gets together in “GROUP” therapy sessions. All the other guys there with cancer are considerably OLDER-- such as Alan (PHILIP BAKER HALL) & Mitch (MATT FREWER)...
... But, the guys -- having gone thru the situation for longer than Joe -- offer practical short-term “solutions” to how Joe is feeling, including some “PLANT”-based type “medications” to relieve some of the pain...
... Seth keeps trying to be “SUPPORTIVE” in his sort of “detached” / off-kilter way, TAKING Joe to various meetings & the like...
... At times, Joe seems to get more & more DISCOURAGED with where his life seems to be “going”...
... What will happen to the friends Joe makes in the Support group?...
... How will Joe “cope” with the advice ANNA keeps giving him?...
... Will Joe start to get involved in a NEW romantic relationship, &, if so, WHO will it be with?...
... Will Seth be able to encourage Joe enough to put him into an “ACCEPTANCE” stage & start to look towards the FUTURE he hopes he’ll have (however long it may be)?...
... How will things “TURN-OUT” for Joe & his life we’re witness to?...
... This movie was partly produced by SETH ROGEN... It was written by a good friend of his, WILL REISER, based on the true story of his OWN battle with spinal cancer which was found in his mid-20's...
... And, JOE came on board the film only a WEEK before it was scheduled to start filming, replacing James McAvoy who had a family emergency which caused his having to withdraw from it...
... If you read the basic “plot”, it probably sounds very implausible & “UNWORKABLE”... But, the amazing thing is, it DOES work & works WELL!...
... It is extremely DIFFICULT to be able to effectively combine a very SERIOUS story with first-class HUMOR...
... But SETH ROGEN (a producer on this film) manages to provide an excellent “understated” NUANCED performance that (because you can “feel” his anxiety for what his friend Joe is going thru) shines as “BELIEVABLE” in his attempts to use HUMOR to try to be “uplifting” to his suffering buddy...
... And, JOE is excellent in the “SERIOUS” side of things, as he tries to COPE with what he’s going thru & at the same time try to not unduly upset people AROUND him (at work, with his dad & mom Anjelica, & with his friends like Seth and with people like ANNE & his “Support” group people-- all of whom are also first-rate in their roles)...
... The film is very FUNNY at times, & also very THOUGHT-provoking & affecting... Accordingly, I’m rating it with an enthusiastic 8.50 of 10 stars...
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