Certain to capture a slew of Oscar Nominations

Rating: 10/10 (17 August 2011)

I thought this was a better film than "The King's Speech" or "Social Network" my two favorite films of last year. Nothing this year has come close so far to the sheer brilliance of 50/50. It is the best "disease of the week" film ever made, which sounds like a backhanded compliment but I don't know how to describe the genre any better.
I have always felt that Gordon-Levitt along with Gosling are far and away the two best young actors working today. I thought that Gordon-Levitt deserved an Oscar nomination for "The Lookout" but knew that was never going to happen. This is his time. His performance as a young man battling cancer is pitch perfect. You will laugh and cry along with him throughout his difficult journey. His best scenes are with his therapist played by Anna Kendrick. She was good in the overrated "Up in the Air"; she is great in this film, playing another neophyte in a high powered career. She will be nominated as well, no doubt.
Seth Rogan has the role of his career thanks in part to Will Reiser, the screenwriter, who was able to take the whole sexist, slacker, pothead thing that Rogan does and add a dimension of humanity. I think both of them also deserve Oscar nominations. Because of the nature of his role I would be surprised if Rogan gets one, but not too surprised. He is just hilarious and at times very touching.
Finally we come to Jonathan Levine, a director that I had never heard of prior to this film. He is fantastic with actors here and has a great style. I say he is a shoo in come Oscar time.
Now this review has really centered around Oscar and that is for a reason. It will not be released for awhile and I was lucky to see a preview screening in Denver last night. I could think of no other way to get the point across more clearly that this is a brilliant film that you must run to when it is released.
One more thing. I made the mistake of taking my 13 year old daughter thinking the R rating was more about the pot and the language, and that the message of the film would overcome those issues. I kind of regret it. I really don't mind her having seen the film in an overall context because the message is terrific, but man was it raunchy and uncomfortable to sit through with her.