I'm a big fan of Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anna Kendrick, so I figured I'd give this movie a go. The movie focuses on Adam (Gordon-Levitt), a 27 year old who finds out he has a rare type of cancer in his spine. It describes his interactions between his best friend (Seth Rogen), his smothering mother (Anjelica Huston), his father who has Alzheimer's disease (Serge Houde), his flaky girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard), and his new therapist (Anna Kendrick) as they all come to terms with the fact that he has cancer. The title itself represents Adam's 50/50 chance of survival. What results is a very honest and realistic portrayal of living with cancer.
Of course, that doesn't mean the film is entirely serious. Seth Rogen, known for comedy, manages to make light of the tough stuff and provides the comedic relief to the story. Although practically all his lines have a comedic undertone, he ultimately comes off as a very considerate friend to Adam. I always appreciate Anna Kendrick's acting, especially in "Pitch Perfect" and "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World," as it is usually very amusing. She provides a lot of the comedy to the story as well. So all in all not a completely sad film.
One of the stylist choices I appreciated about the movie was the use of blur. Whenever Adam is high on medication or, occasionally, drugs (give him a break, he does have cancer), the camera usually blurs in and out to give the effect of his view, being constantly disoriented and out of it. Another thing I really loved was the reaction shots of the dog. In a moment of acceptance for Adam's condition, his girlfriend brings home a dog to cheer Adam up. The dog, like Adam, is not in the best condition, as he is a greyhound retired from racing. His is rather old and very skinny,which draws parallels with Adam's own condition. But usually, for comedic purposes, a shot of the dog looking mighty adorable will be included, which keeps up with the light tone the movie adopts.
Another of the interesting choices of the movie is it's use of allusion. Several television programs make it into the movies, including "The Colbert Report" and a news program about volcanoes, which is interesting because Adam is writing a radio program about volcanoes when the movie begins. These little clips help reflect Adam's current mood and help us to see what's on his mind. This allows the movie to involve less extraneous dialogue and be less blatant.
One of the scenes that really stood out to me is the scene where Adam finds out he has cancer.
The scene begins with Adam sitting in an office, biting his nails nervously. The doctor comes and in pretty much ignores him, and then begins speaking into a tape recorder. There are several close-ups of the doctor's mouth as he speaks into the recorder. Then, Adam timidly raises his hand to get the doctor's attention, and asks exactly what is going on. The doctor rambles off medical terms that don't make much sense, and then finally comes out and bluntly says "malignant tumor." Out of nowhere. As the doctor begins explaining about Adam's case the audio becomes a high whine, and the doctor's face completely blurs out, and only when the idea of cancer fully sinks in for Adam does the camera un-blur. This is a very powerful scene, because the use of blur, audio, and complex medical terms spoken rapidly encompasses Adam's complete shock and disbelief at being diagnosed with cancer. We, as the audience are very confused, until the doctor outright says "malignant tumor," and that creates a kind of jolt as something so big and ominous is just dumped unceremoniously onto us. It's also interesting how throughout the scene, the doctor never once says "you're dying" or "you have a fairly high chance of dying." Adam later complains to his therapist that no one will just come out and say that he is going to die.
Compared with some of the cancer stories coming out nowadays, like "The Fault in Our Stars," nothing about cancer is over-glorified. There's no epic love story. There's a slight flirty relationship happening, but it is not meant to be epic by any means. It's not at all obnoxious like "Now is Good," where the love story is the central driving force. It's more about the support system friends and family create when everyone is coming to terms with illness. This story is very honest about how it portrays cancer.
I will say one of the things I find annoying about this movie is the fact that certain subjects are brought up, like Adam's volcano project, or his nail-biting habits, and then are never followed through. I forgot whole parts of the film by the end, because they show up once or twice and then never reappear. Adam meets two characters while being administered chemotherapy, and they appear quite a lot, but after 3/4 of the movie is over they never show up again. They were important to the story (SPOILER: granted, one of them does die, but the other character literally disappears). That seems illogical to me, but I guess the movie as a whole isn't any less enjoyable because of it.
Basically, if you like uplifting movies about the bonds people make and uphold, I'd say go for it. It's a little bit funny, a little bit sad, and overall very heartwarming. Joseph Gordon-Levitt does a fantastic job of playing the terminally ill Adam, and I found his performance to be completely believable. If you have a couple of hours to spare, not a bad way to go about it.
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