Joseph Gordon-Levitt portrays optimistic character in best light, picks perfect script
Cancer sucks. And Joseph Gordon-Levitt has become quite the predictor of cinematic quality with his ability to choose a script and put in a commendable performance — “Hesher” and “Inception” immediately come to mind.
Those are the lessons “50/50” leaves behind.
Director Jonathan Levine (“The Wackness”(2008)) takes one of the most morbid situations — a young man dying of cancer — and adds a sick levity with blunt introspective dialogue typically bordering on crass.
Essentially cutting away the layers of social precedent (tiptoeing around the subject of death), “50/50” is a comedy about experiencing the worst in life, but still finding the best.
Adam (Levitt) is a young professional who seemingly has it made. Although he is no Wall Street executive, he does okay working for the local radio station and has a stable home and life with his quasi-live-in girlfriend Rachael (Bryce Dallas Howard).
Yes, Adam’s life is not perfect, but as far as complaints go, he has few.
Adam is diagnosed with a rare cancer and given a 50 percent chance of survival, proving that the comfortable routine we work so hard for can be upset by something as small as a freak biological happening.
Unsure of how to handle his diagnosis or where to go from this point, Adam’s life begins to dramatically change as he copes with the terrible hand he has been dealt.
Levine does a good job of not just focusing solely on Adam’s struggle, but also exploring how his immediate social circle reacts and interacts as Adam goes through the stages of his rare form of cancer.
“50/50” is a performance-driven film.
Levitt does an excellent job of portraying a stubborn and jaded sufferer, who refuses to admit his condition, but also never stops obsessing over it. It creates a paradoxical realism that doesn’t give in to any extremes.
The “Inception” actor is one of the more emotionally accessible stars in Hollywood these days. He has a certain “regular” quality that many are lacking. This down-to-earth charm only enhances the emotional impact of the film because it feels like this could be happening to a friend, not just a multi-million dollar actor.
Levitt is best in scenes where he gets to interact with Seth Rogen’s character Kyle, the two lending a natural foil.
Of course, it doesn’t take much of an imagination to figure out what kind of character Rogen plays (hint: it’s his typical slacker sidekick), but his character seems to have a certain maturity that he lacks in the other films that he’s done. This maturity only adds to the chemistry between the two, creating the best on-screen pairing of the year.
“50/50” could be the funniest (“Bridesmaids” being its main competition) and most well-written films of the year, but it certainly is not without its flaws. The main being that certain emotional moments in the film feel forced and way too neat for the film’s somber tone.
The performances typically offset the contrived feeling, but sometimes it’s hard not to notice the clash between dour mood and the Hallmark-y, emotional moments.
“50/50” is by no means surprising and many of the plot developments can be seen 30 minutes in advance. But it is the journey that it takes the viewer on that makes it special and unique.
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