50/50

My Grade:  A+

For once, I had very high expectations for a film and these expectations were exceeded.  I had been following 50/50 ever since I heard about it via @hitRECordJoe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Twitter) and was so excited to see it.  Usually when I have this high of expectations for a film, I am let down (like with 30 Minutes or Less); however, 50/50 blew me away.

    

Everything about this movie is great but the story is what really stands out.  You can be laughing one minute, then balling your eyes out the next.  That cliche term “emotional roller coaster” is defined by 50/50.  It is, however, very emotionally manipulative in that it just piles on the sadness for Adam (Gordon-Levitt).  Not only does he get cancer despite being a very cautious guy, but everything else seems to go wrong in his life as well, making us feel so sorry for him.  Luckily for Adam, though, his friend Kyle (Seth Rogen) is there for him.  Luckily for us, Kyle is there to make us laugh in the face of all the negative things going on in the film.

    

Speaking of Seth Rogen, he was my biggest concern going into this film.  To clarify, it’s not because I don’t like Rogen.  I do.  But I like him in raunchy comedy fare like 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up.  I was unsure how he would do in a film genre I like to call “comedy-with-heart” which ends up as more of a dramedy than a straight comedy.  As a side note:  50/50 is touted as a comedy but there is a lot more to it, so don’t go see this film expecting something like Horrible Bosses.  But, back to Rogen, he is great in this film.  Of course he brings some raunchy comedy to the table, but he also brings so much heart and a perfect counterpart to Gordon-Levitt’s Adam.

    

And to Joseph Gordon-Levitt, bravo.  I have liked almost all of his work (especially his indies) but 50/50 is my favorite.  I have seen him as a wanna-be hitman in Killshot with Mickey Rourke, a driven high school student bent on finding a killer in Brick, and everyone has seen him in Inception and 500 Days of Summer.  In each of these films, he is great but in 50/50 he goes from funny, to charming, to freaking out, to depressed, to pretty much any other emotion you can think of and I teared up at a part (if you watch the film, you will know the part) because of him.  Simply a great performance.

    

Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air and Twilight) is great as usual and I am so glad she has six projects coming up in 2012 because she is one of the great young talents out there... and she is adorable.  Bryce Dallas Howard is also good as Adam’s girlfriend, but she plays such a despicable character.  The biggest drawback of this film is how terrible of a person she is.  It’s almost unbelievable how evil she is.  But I guess that just adds to the emotional manipulation that 50/50 performs on you.  At least Adam treats her like she deserves to be treated... watch it and you’ll see.

    

Overall, this film is one of the best films I have seen all year (and in the last few years).  I really hope it garners Oscar buzz, but my worry is that it’s not the kind of film that wins Oscars.  I can’t explain it, but it just has a different feel than The King’s Speech and The Social Network.  Especially with a director (Jonathan Levine) who only has seven directorial credits on IMDB.  Whether he wins or not, he made a great film that begs to be watched and will make people laugh and cry for years to come.