50/50 Review

Connor Williams: 50/50 is a story of how Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is afflicted with cancer and how his best friend Kyle (Seth Rogen) and family try to keep his spirits up throughout the process. While advertised as a comedy, the movie accurately shows the impact cancer has on a person and those around them – and how they react to it.

Leland Bernstein: I’m going to just say that if Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon-Levitt messed up the cancer comedy, they probably would never get a job inHollywoodagain. Luckily they did a fantastic job!

CW: Agreed. I was captivated by how they took such a serious subject, and made it incredibly intense and dramatic  at one moment, and gut busting-ly hilarious the next. But instead of the script wrenching viewers from emotion to emotion, the actors transitioned seamlessly and naturally into each new emotion.

LB: You never felt out of touch with the characters – nothing felt forced or fake. Every joke felt well time and placed, and every laugh in the theater was genuine. The moments of heartbreak and despair weren’t over- or under-played, but rather make you wonder how you would deal with such a serious situation.

CW: In contrast with all the deep introspection that Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) goes through, the brilliant moments of humor coming from Kyle (Seth Rogen) are pure gold, giving the whole movie a feeling of reality, brilliantly mixing tragedy with moments of comedy.

LB: Warning: This movie contains large amounts of illicit drugs. Side effects include laughter, vomit, and the possibility of peeing yourself.

CW: Very well said, but drugs by no means are a focus of the plot, just a comical diversion. The funnier aspects of the movie truly keep the heavy subject matter more bearable.

LB: The simple truth is that this movie is fantastic and it’s hard to write about it without spoiling the movie for you. What we can tell you is that it is a fantastic way to spend $10.

Rating: A