Theater Whore: 50/50

I admittedly did not want to see this movie, 50/50. I like the actors involved and all that but the topic of cancer is something that seems rather hard to do without it being terribly depressing. This film not only managed to be both funny and compelling but also touching. The human interaction in this was just amazing to see and this movie should be watched by many people with no fear of leaving the theater depressed.

Joseph Gordon Levitt (Inception, 500 Days Of Summer, 3rd Rock From The Sun) plays Adam who works editing stories for the radio. He is a clean living guy that has a pretty normal life until he goes to the doctor and finds out during an exam that he has a rare form of spinal cancer. He is obviously shocked saying that he exercises, doesn’t drink, or smoke. After working in a hospital for a few years, trust me, cancer don’t care about any of that shit. His best friend is played by Seth Rogan (Knocked Up, 40 Year Old Virgin, Pineapple Express) Kyle who is pretty much the opposite of Adam. When he hears about his cancer he wants to throw up. He tries to find the bright side by pointing out all the famous people who have beat cancer and includes Patrick Swayze who he doesn’t know died from his cancer which seems to shake him as much as finding out his friend is sick.

Adam has to break the news to his girlfriend Rachael played by Bryce Dallas Howard (The Village, The Help, Spiderman 3) who says that she’ll stay with him, even when he says she doesn’t have to. Adam tells his parents about his cancer over dinner which he didn’t want to do since his dad has Alzheimer’s and his mom played by Anjelica Huston (Choke, Art School Confidential, Ever After) is very emotional and overly protective.

Adam’s girlfriend ends up cheating on him and Kyle decides to use Adam’s cancer to pick up girls to very mixed results. Eventually it works but he even finds sex painful. Adam meets some very cool older men in chemotherapy and when one of them eventually dies he is down and talks to his therapist Katherine played by Anna Kendrick (Twilight, Up In The Air) about it. She is a few years younger than he is and he has doubts about whether or not she can help or if its worth it to keep going on.

This movie was really fun and I laughed so much. There are some pretty touching scenes where you are really pulling for this guy to pull through and be okay. The story is based off of the real experiences of director Jonathon Levine and his real life friend Seth Rogan. See it if you can or miss out on one of the best films of 2011.