Director:
Jonathan Levine
Cast:
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Seth Rogen
Anna Kendrick
Bryce Dallas Howard
Rated R
50/50 follows the story of Adam (Levitt), a 20-something who has a steady job, a girlfriend, a house and keeps himself in shape. However, his life is completely thrown upside down when he goes to the doctor for back pains and discovers he has a rare form of cancer on his spine. After researching about it he discovers his chances are 50/50.
The rest of the film follows his personal journey through his treatment, meetings with a psychologist (Kendrick), dealing with a relationship with his girlfriend Rachel (Howard) and spending time with his friend Kyle (Rogen).
The movie does a great job portraying what someone would likely go through in this situation. It goes into every relationship Adam has and every emotion he is feeling, giving the audience a well rounded knowledge of who this character is and what he is challenged with.
Levitt continues to show his talent as an actor in this movie, perfectly displaying a range of emotions and bringing a lot of life to the character. Everything that he goes through in this film from sadness to joy is felt by the audience as well.
Seth Rogen was also good in the movie playing more than just a comic relief role, while still delivering some humor, that worked nicely in the film. He helped to relieve a lot of tension in many scenes and was a great addition to the story.
Anna Kendrick did well in the movie too, playing a young psychologist with Adam being her third patient. She comes off in many of the scenes as nervous and not knowing what really to do which was exactly needed for the role she played.
50/50 is a great film and one of the better ones of the year. It balances humor with drama very well and puts the audience on an emotional roller coaster that keeps one engaged the entire run time. I put this at a high 4 out of 5.
Matthew Liedke on Film 