Overlooked gem; Joseph Gordon-Levitt is golden

Rating: 10/10 (14 March 2012)

I had been intending to watch 50/50 since some time ago. I ordered the Blu-Ray from ebay, however before it arrived to my place the film finally opened in Mexico City theaters. I ended watching it on the big screen with my girlfriend a couple of weeks ago, the day after the 2012 Academy Awards, to be exact. I usually don't care much about the Oscars -and its many injustices- but this time I was thinking a lot in the Oscar-worthy material from 50/50, especially since it was the day after having a film like Alexander Payne's THE DESCENDANTS in many of the important categories.
I think 50/50 and THE DESCENDANTS have many similarities with each other. For instance, they are two of the three 2011 films, that I have seen, with a character that suffers from Alzheimer's disease (the other being RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES). But aside of thematic similarities (there's the infidelity thing too, Hawaii is mentioned here and is the setting in the other, and of course the obvious one dealing with a character fighting for its life), they share what's most important: the great quality; especially the great quality of the main actor. If George Clooney's performance is, for many, overrated, then Joseph Gordon-Levitt's one is brutally overlooked for me. He is golden, portraying a young man (Adam) who has been diagnosed with a rare case of spinal cancer. Hell, I think I will remember more his performance than Clooney's.
But anyway, 50/50 deals with the cancer disease in ways I don't think we have seen before. We have the required, and nevertheless touching, parts, too. Like for instance, we have the part when Gordon-Levitt's character sort of realizes what's really going on, so he breaks down, which is absolutely understandable; the situation is familiar and pretty much required in films of this matter, and at the same time those are the kind of scenes that allow Gordon- Levitt to fully show his potential. And boy oh boy, he is REALLY GREAT.
It's a difficult film obviously, just as it makes you think in the terrible disease cancer is. Then for me this is also a rare case of a difficult picture that I can watch more than just one time. I mean, when a difficult/depressing film is great it is still difficult or depressing and you can't just easily watch it again like you would normally do with any other type of great film. Some people, like my girlfriend herself, will not want to revisit 50/50 even when they truly liked it. But I have seen it twice already and I plan to watch it again soon, now with my cousin since we both are huge fans of Seth Rogen and pals.
Having the writers of SUPERBAD (Rogen and Evan Goldberg) as producers of a film about cancer is certainly a complete surprise. Rogen, by the way, is also playing Gordon-Levitt's co- worker and best friend (Kyle), and is like a comeback for him: he is basically reprising his funny-guy-pot-smoker role, from movies like KNOCKED UP. His "reprise" is very much welcome, for my money.
And it's not only the thing of making jokes around cancer. There are jokes and they are real fun, with Rogen on fire; and nobody, by the way, can really bitch about that since the writer himself -Will Reiser- had (or still has, I don't really know) cancer. But together with the jokes and stuff it's also the thing of creating an environment of pure camaraderie. Believe me, as well as Rogen both Philip Baker Hall and Matt Frewer are superb and key factors playing two cancer patients who will share, amongst some other things, Bob Marley's old favorite with Adam and, of course, Kyle! The feminine cast is also quite good; let's not forget that we have a sweet performance from Anna Kendrick (in the most predictable subplot of the story), the extremely beautiful Bryce Dallas Howard and, surprisingly, Angelica Houston; damn, they even "got some" Pearl Jam (and some Bee Gees too)! You really have to check this one out.
*Watched it on February 27 and March 03, 2012 (Blu-Ray).