Cancer Isn't Funny, but it Can't Hurt to Laugh

Rating: 7/10 (25 July 2013)

Dramatic Comedy is a tough genre. Sometimes they are too serious and not funny and sometimes they are too funny and it's too much of a comedy. The movie is called 50/50 but the drama to comedy ratio is more like 80/20. Joseph Gordon Levitt start as a 27 year old man who gets diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and is given a 50/50 shot of staying alive. Seth Rogan is his best friend and he is hilarious as always. Levitt goes to a treatment center and meets two older cancer patients and they are also very funny, but other than that this movie was straight up drama.
Is 50/50 a good movie? Eh, yes, it has a lot of emotion and Joseph Gordon Levitt makes the character very believable. Cancer is a very hard thing to live with affecting so many people. He has a girlfriend and she eventually shows her true colors. A lot of the scenes in this movie felt real. The relationships between Levitt and other characters felt real and how he treats them was expected. He didn't want a therapist so he gives her attitude. He is sick of his overbearing mother so he ignores her. He and his girlfriend don't have the best relationship which in this situation can be expected. It was Rogan and Levitt that had the best relationship because we see Levitt's character smile and be normal. It was good for him and better for the movie. The comedy came in at the right and wrong time but it really lacked. This movie straight up wasn't that funny. Rogan is the center of all the comedy, as he should have been, but I wanted to laugh more in this movie. I expected to laugh more in this movie. When the comedy was there it was hysterical. Something happens between Levitt and his girlfriend and Rogan's character is right in the middle and you can tell this scene was written by Rogan himself or completely improve. I was laughing so hard in this moment and a few others but the core of the movie is a cancer story. The dramatic moments are really well done but the majority of the movie is predictable. You have seen this movie before time and time again but it is still entertaining. I expected something a little different than what I got but predictable does not always mean bad. There were a few moments and outcomes I did not see coming but the majority I could have written myself. At first Levitt hates his young therapist. He is 27 and she 24, and it is obvious they grow on each other and become a love interest in the least expected of ways. In the cancer treatment center Levitt meets these two old guys who also have cancer and they are a riot. The first scene with the three of them was great. One of them gives Levitt pot cookies and that whole scene is great and hysterical. When the three of them are together it is pure entertainment, but then the drama bug comes around and kills one of them and we never see Levitt interact with the remaining one again. That was a shame but it was a big reality punch in the face. I felt really sad when he died and it hit me as hard as it hit Levitt. This movie touched me as it probably touched most people because we all know somebody who has cancer or is affected by another family member who has cancer. In a more cheerful note Seth Rogan is in this movie. I love Seth Rogan, he may play the laid back pot head in every movie but he does it so well. There are few people who could pull off what he did. He made a terrible situation not as terrible. He isn't laughing at cancer or saying it isn't a big deal, but he is saying it isn't the end of the world. You may have less time than the rest of us and that is unfortunate but he tries to make the best of it for his friend. Yeah there is that one scene where they use it to get laid but come on that would probably work in real life. Overall 50/50 is a dramatic comedy and one of the better ones I have seen. I'm not crazy about this genre but I am crazy about any movie Seth Rogan is in. I had doubts going into this movie and as predictable and emotional as it was, I did enjoy it. I had fun with this movie through my laughs and fighting back of tears. The characters all felt real and the endgame of all of them felt real. Levitt's father in the movie has Alzheimer's disease but in all honestly I thought it was wasted. I think he was supposed to be used for comedic relief but he isn't really used. He says a few lines but other than that he stands around and looks stupid. There were a lot of things I liked and a lot I didn't but it is still a solid movie I found entertaining so it gets a very high WillyT Recommendation.