Wednesday, October 5, 2011

50/50

There are lots of movies about cancer and cancer survivors on Lifetime Network and Oprah's new station. But what elevates a film out of cheap soap opera manipulation into one that operates on a more honest and daring level? Two things: script and cast.
It's hard to make a feel-good movie about a cancer diagnosis. The right approach is to make an honest film that has dignity and humor. Bingo. That's what happened here. The film is written by Will Reiser. At a young age, Reiser was diagnosed with a tumor of the same type as 50/50's protagonist. It's the kind of research you would wish on no one. But having lived through it, Reiser is able to dramatize the situation with authority and insight. Well done.
Adam, played with a gentle dignity by Joseph Gordon Levitt, has back pain that is found to be a malignant tumor on his spine. The science of this is conveyed by a jackass of an oncologist who understands lots about cancer and nothing of humanity. The rest of the film is about how the people in Adam's life deal with the disease. His best friend (Seth Rogan) sees an opportunity to use the diagnosis as a tool to get him laid. His mother (a brilliant Angelica Huston) is overwhelmed. His girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard) gives the supportive thing the old college try but is incapable of that kind of unselfish behavior. Anna Kendrick plays a young therapist struggling to apply her book-learned sympathy in a real-life situation.
And of course Adam himself must learn to overcome a soul-sucking numbness and deal with his own mortality at a far-too-young age. The antagonist in this film is cancer, or more specifically, what we all think of cancer. It's a movie about overcoming fear.
Let me list out the other thing that makes this film pretty terrific. Joseph Gordon Levitt, Angelica Huston, Anna Kendrick, Philip Baker Hall, Bryce Dallas Howard. It's an all-star list and each of these fine actors bring it, and I mean they bring it in spades. Not a weak link in the chain. (Sag voters take note-Best Ensemble?).
Don't let the heavy subject matter deter you. 50/50 is a story well-told, a script well-written and a film well-acted.

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