"50/50" is probably a tough film to market. It's all about a young man's unexpected battle with a deadly cancer. Unless you read about it beforehand, you'd look at the ad above and think that, perhaps, this is going to be a big screen version of "Gomer Pyle USMC." With Seth Rogen mugging in the background, the target audience would appear to be men between the ages of 18-24. With the typical profanity, sexual references, and bodily noises these dummies love so much.
Oh, you get a lot of that in "50/50." And that's why the title is so appropriate. Because one-half of the movie destroys the other half. It would be sort of like going on a tour of the Louvre and noticing that subway graffiti art was hanging right alongside the Mona Lisa, You can't make a tasty salad dressing by mixing balsamic vinegar with motor oil.
If you are, unlike the young male audience that generally dominates the multiplexes of America, doing your homework on new movie releases, you will know that "50/50" is a true story about a young guy's battle with spinal cancer and how it impacts those family members and friends around him. Will Reiser is the screenwriter and this is his real-life tale. Indeed, Seth Rogen is one of the producers and is essentially playing himself as the sick kid's best friend. If you're worrying about a down ending, don't. Reiser is still with us. And, sadly, so is Rogen.
In my humble opinion, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who plays the cancer-ridden hero, is one of the best young actors working in films today. He's good because he hasn't sunk to the low, low, low standards others his age have by resorting to roles that are based in gross humor. His work in the wonderful "(500) Days of Summer" is a perfect example of that. Layered, nuanced, focused acting. In "50/50," he is again phenomenal as a guy dealing with the most dreaded medical prognosis you can get. Levitt paints us a canvas of many, many shades as he gropes with his mortality which is also impacting his family and friends. The words are obviously on the page and, for that, screenwriter Reiser gets kudos for translating honesty and humor to the screen. Every moment Levitt is on screen is riveting.
Except when he is sharing the white space with his best buddy as played by the consistently atrocious Seth Rogen. If this is indeed what Rogen is like in real life, then he's as big a jerk as I think he is. When his character makes an appearance in the story, the story is virtually hi-jacked by a splinter group from Al Qaeda.
Rogen, who as an actor is nothing more than John Belushi without the heroin track marks, acts with his face and his volume. The louder he can get and the more profane he can be, the better he thinks he's acting. Except he's not. Suddenly, a decent and rich film about beating cancer becomes "National Lampoon's Malignant Tumor."
"50/50," as a result of Rogen's presence in the film, becomes nothing more than a cinematic rendition of the U.S. Congress---polarized to extremes. It's not helping our government and it certainly does nothing to enhance this movie. I had so many highs and lows watching "50/50" that I thought I had become a diabetic. I went from a moment where I loved this story and, literally fifteen seconds later, I couldn't wait for it to be over. And this pattern of flip-flopping continued over and over and over again.
Rogen's awful work in this film is further illuminated when you look at the rest of the cast besides Levitt. Anjelica Huston, always a pro, conjures up memories of Ida Morgenstern, as Adam's overbearing mother who is also dealing with a husband who no longer knows what planet he is on. Bryce Dallas Howard, Ron's daughter, has another thankless role as Adam's phony girlfriend and, in some scenes, she really looks like Opie in a smart blouse and slacks combination. Bryce, already shanghai-ed in the awful "Help," really needs to get her agent to find some movie roles that won't provoke hissing from an audience.
And the best of the best is the magnificent Anna Kendrick, so good in "Up in the Air" and even better here as Adam's therapist. Her scenes with Levitt burn a hole in the screen and I really wish they made up the other fifty percent of the film. She's also adorable and, if I were 25 years younger, I might be stalking her house as we speak. Of course, I might be doing the same with Rogen, but only to see if I could slash his tires and prevent him from driving onto a studio lot ever again.
"50/50" left me excited and it left me angry. Exhileration and exapseration are two emotions that don't co-exist well. Maybe that's a bit of what a cancer patient deals with on a daily basis. But, I don't think the impetus for my reaction was what screenwriter Will Reiser intended. I totally salute him for beating the odds and bringing a wonderful story to the screen. If only he would have realized that half is more.
Now, cancer-free, it might be time for Will to find a better class of actor to be his best friend.
Dinner last night: Leftover bratwurst and vegetables.
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