Life is a Crapshoot ( Well, You're Half Right Anyway )

Rating: Null/10 (22 October 2011)

This film is mildly recommended.
50 / 50 is the aptly name dramedy about cancer. Half of the film works beautifully ( the more serious half ) and the other part not so well. Part of the reason is that the comedic elements don't gel with the film's romantic subplots which tends to trivialize its more important disease-of-the-week subject. The grueling scenes of chemotherapy, the callowness of the medical system, and a patient's sudden setbacks just don't build to any significance due to the sit-com hijinks that befall the film's initial interesting premise.
Loosely based on a true story of screenwriter Will Reiser ( renamed Adam ), and real life friend of Seth Rogen ( renamed Kyle in the film ), 50 / 50 starts off very promisingly as we meet the likable Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the lead character who is diagnosed with a rare form of spinal cancer. His good life is slowly coming undone as he breaks the news to his best friend ( Rogen ), his girlfriend ( Bryce Dallas Howard ) and his mother ( the talented and underused Angelica Huston ). Therapy sessions are on order in the form of a perky and cute psychologist named Katie ( a miscast Anna Kendrick ) as Adam also befriends other sage cancer patients ( winningly played by Philip Baker Hall and Matt Frewer ).
Yes, it all sounds very predictable and it is. Director Jonathan Levine doesn't set the right tone at all for his film. The characters are not fully realized, especially the role of the therapist who tends to break every ethical boundary of her profession. Levine also allows Rogen ( one of the film's producers ) to ham up his role as The Buddy who tends to upstage Levitt every chance he gets. ( And this is one of Rogen's most restrained performance to date. )
Yet it is the remarkable talents of Joseph Gordon-Levitt that rescue the film. He subtly captures the horror of his dilemma and projects a bittersweet melancholia as he copes on a daily basis. This actor is so gifted and he is developing a fine resume with his challenging film choices.
In fact, due to his acting prowess ( and the skilled support of Serge Houde as the father and the previously mentioned Ms. Huston ) the film's final hospital scene delivers just the right mixture of pathos and humor that most of the film struggles to achieve. Were that Ms. Huston would have had even more scenes, 50 /50 could have become a truly memorable film experience and its odds at success unmatched. GRADE: B-
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