‘50/50’ – Hits the mark and beats the odds!

Joseph Gordon-Levitt (‘Inception’) is the nice guy AdamLerner in the very moving ‘50/50’.  Levittis turning into a deeply powerful actor, presenting a performance that is touching,funny and very moving; the nuance he brings to his characters relay a strengthand maturity not found in most actors of his generation. As Adam Lerner, we aretreated to his finest performance to date.

Lerner is the seminal ‘nice guy’, the guy who follows all ofthe rules and lives his life as straight as he can; so much so that whilejogging on a very empty street, he still waits for the walk light to turngreen. He works for an NPR radio station in Seattle and has a buddingrelationship with an up and coming artist, Rachel (another fantasticperformance by Bryce Dallas Howard) and a best friend, since high school, namedKyle (Seth Rogen whom I like better here than in ‘Green Hornet’ – note to Seth,stick with what you do best, buddy drama/comedies). To his horror and surprise,he learns, quite unexpectedly, that he has a rare form of cancer. The newsstriking him to the core, as he recants to his doctor: ‘I don’t smoke, I don’tdrink, I recycle!”

Written by Will Reiser, based on his own experience as a20-something cancer survivor, ‘50/50’ blends comedy with tragedy in a very realway. Never do we feel like we are watching a Lifetime disease of the weekmovie; and never do we feel manipulated throughout the film. Titled because ofthe odds that Adam faces, Reiser never pulls punches on the horror of cancerand the impact it can have not only on the life of the patient, but the livesof those around them. Director Jonathan Levine smartly allows Levitt and Rogento mesh; he also smartly allows the material to play out in the actorsthemselves. After chemotherapy, we see Adam, alone, sick and in the dark of hishome, wondering why no one is calling him; we see the pained face of his mother(Anjelica Huston) as her eyes well with tears upon hearing the news; we see thereaction of Rachel, while initially supportive, coming to realize that this ismore than she can bear. And in one very powerful scene, we actually live thereaction of Adam the night before what could be life ending surgery.

The focus is not entirely on Adam and his trial, it is notfocused on the relationship of Adam and Rachel or that of his mother; rather,it is focused on the relationship of Adam and Kyle, lifelong friends left todeal with a life changing situation. Where Adam is quiet, unassuming andcharming, Kyle is the lunk-head, but he is dedicated to Adam for the long haul.While Rogen is definitely an in your face actor, he and Levitt mesh nicely andthe situation is believable. They are caught in a situation where you don’tknow if you need to laugh or cry. Thankfully they do both as in when Kyle takesAdam to a bar in order to pick up girls using his bald head and cancer story asa line!

A wonderful subplot involve Adam’s therapist, Kate, playedby Anna Kendrick (Twilight), a therapist in training actually, where it turnsout that Adam is her third patient. The two develop a sweet relationship thatbegins adversarial as Adam is understandable angry but eventually turns to somethingvery heartfelt and real. Aside from the ‘Twilight’ series, I have enjoyedKendrick performances (I can’t really blame her for ‘Twilight’), especiallythat in ‘Up in the Air’ – which if you haven’t seen, she shines in it.

While ‘50/50’ is not a perfect movie, it is certainly one ofthe nest movies of the year and a 4 star effort!

Robert SiegerComment