Serious illness good for grossout film ‘50/50’
Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen play typical
20-somethings in the film “50/50.”
Rogen, of course, is once again the best friend. He plays
Kyle and his work and bar buddy is Adam, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Now Adam is a bit more low-key, less flamboyant. Rogen’s
character is obsessed with going to bars and picking up chicks.
It looks like another grossout movie and to some extent, it
is.
But very quickly it takes a different turn. The
Gordon-Levitt character has a routine doctor’s appointment where he learns from
a mumbling, stumbling doctor that he has cancer.
Bryce Dallas Howard plays his girlfriend, who takes him to
chemo but chooses to wait four hours in the car because she doesn’t like the
whole hospital experience.
You can quickly tell the relationship is in trouble and
comes to an abrupt end. Meanwhile, Adam
finds true friendship in some older men having chemo at the same time, played
by the gruff but great Phillip Baker Hall and Matt Frewer.
These 60s-somethings get along well with Adam, even coaxing
him into enjoying some of their pot-laced cookies. A priceless scene in the
film is Adam leaving the hospital in an out-of-focus fog, high as a kite,
smiling and happy as he views the misery that cancer can cause.
Anjelica Huston plays his “it’s all about me” mother and
Serge Houde plays his dementia-driven dad. It’s a thankless role but Houde
gives it as much dimension as it can be given.
The Rogen character truly cares for his friend, but also
won’t miss a chance of scoring with a chick by taking him to a bar, getting
some girls to feel sorry for him and then taking one of the girls home.
Rogen is also jealous of Adam’s doomed love affair and takes
great joy in getting a picture with his camera phone of the girl kissing a
Jesus-like artist at an art gallery.
A backdrop through all of this is Adam’s relationship to his
soon-to-be-a-doctor therapist, played by the perky Anna Kendrick. When Adam
makes a joke about “Doogie Houser,” the old TV show about a teenage doctor, she
doesn’t understand. She’s too young.
But that is the relationship to watch.
The film does a nice job of doing some grossout comedy while
giving us a somewhat realistic view of dealing with cancer.
The title comes from Adam looking up his particular cancer
on the Internet and learning most patients have a 50-50 chance of survival.
There are many nice moments. Adam is about to have an
operation that could cure or kill him. His clueless father tells him about his
new sports jacket. But to Adam, he is saying his father does have an idea of
what is going on and loves him.
It might be the most mature grossout film ever. Yeah,
Rogen’s character goes overboard and after awhile you just want him to shut up.
And yes, Huston becomes too motherly. But you know, people
can be annoying in real life.
“50 /50” works on many levels. It is worth your time.
Read more movie reviews at videoviper.blogspot.com.
50/50
• Directed by Jonathan Levine
• Written by Will Reiser
• Rated R for language and sexual situations
• Runtime: 100 minutes
• 3 stars out of 4
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