By Marissa Graham |Staff Writer|
Seth Rogen’s new movie is fifty percent comedy and fifty percent tragedy.
The movie 50/50 has laughter, sadness and everything in between. This movie is more than a movie about cancer, but an original movie about betrayal, friendship, love and survival. This is by far one of the best movies of 2011.
The movie is about a 27-year-old man named Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who was diagnosed with a rare cancer. There is a 50 percent chance that he will live and 50 percent chance he will not.
Adam and his support team struggle with him being sick. Adam’s overbearing mother (Anjelica Huston) wants to cradle her son back to health, but Adam rejects her help due the needs of his father, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
His girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard) shows her true colors in mid-crisis and his best friend Kyle (Seth Rogen) attempts to help him by using his cancer as a way to sleep with women. In the midst of Adam’s uncertainty of his future, a young counselor (Anna Kendrick) calms his chaotic life.
The movie is actually about writer Will Reiser’s own experience with cancer and the ups and downs that came along with it. Ironically, Seth Rogen was Reiser’s actual best friend at the time, making him a perfect fit to play himself in the movie.
“It was weird to be playing myself in the film, especially because my character was such an asshole,” said Rogen in an interview with Fandango, “It really made me analyze how I behaved during that time. I tried to make jokes about it and make light about it – to constantly not accept the gravity of it. I didn’t realize it until I did the movie.”
Not only did Rogen play a version of himself in the movie, he also produced it with Evan Goldberg, who was his writing partner with Superbad.
In some sense Rogen played his typical loud and obnoxious character that he played in all his other movies, but the plot and pacing of 50/50 somehow makes him more sympathetic.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt also did a remarkable job. Levitt is best known for his acting in romantic comedies such as 10 Things I Hate About You and 500 Days of Summer.
There was a particular scene in the movie where he was about to go into surgery. While the nurse was administering the drugs, Levitt broke out in tears as his uncertainty of whether or not he would wake up surfaced.
One could not help but feel a sense of fear and anguish for his character.
Overall the movie was great,; from the story to the actors to the production. The story had a message that may vary for everyone but makes an impact throughout.
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