Smile. Cry. Feel grateful you don't have cancer.

Rating: 7/10 (8 January 2012)

Cancer is probably the most egregious of all diseases. Once the doctor proclaims those doomed words, it becomes a sword hanging over your head with the rope getting burnt every minute. That leads to redemption, as shown in movies, and acts as a catharsis; I vent to let it all out, now that you know that the clock is going to chime soon. This theme has been frequently exploited by films. Hindi movies like Anand did it, Japanese ones like Ikiru has been there too. Heck, even Hollywood served it through Funny People, The Bucket List and a plethora of others. And then came 50/50.
Staking someone's chances of survival or death at 50/50 is the worst thing you could do to a dying man. At 90/10 he knows he is a goner. At 60/40, he still knows he is a goner. But at 50/50, he will only be a goner if lady-luck decides to screw him. And that glimmer of hope, is torture most unbearable. Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a twenty-seven year-old, who does things every twenty-seven year-old is expected to do - jog, not smoke or drink, obey traffic rules, not force his girlfriend into having intercourse and work honestly. Does any of that look like a cause for cancer? Hence, it comes as a bolt from the blue for him, when a rather sadistic, heartless wretch of a doctor blurts out in the most unsubtle way imaginable 'It's a malignant tumour.' Blur out, start music, life in slo-mo - Adam walking through the crowd in a daze, Adam reading about neurofibrosarcoma schwannoma online, Adam travelling in a bus staring outside the window and Adam breaking the news to his girlfriend - end music. He then tells about it to his closest, and apparently only, friend Kyle (Seth Rogen) who reacts by saying that he wants to throw up. Finally, he tells his paranoid mother, who has enough on her plate managing her husband who suffers from Alzheimer's.
Adam then enters mental therapy with a twenty-four year-old nearly-a- doc, Katherine (Anna Kendrick). He makes new friends at the cancer centre, takes drugs for the first time, shaves his head entirely, and learns to cope with life with the help of Kyle, who constantly insists on him getting laid, along with coping with the pain of his girlfriend cheating on him and them breaking up, before finally undergoing a make- it or break-it surgery.
Here is a a problem with that story - it is predictable. The idea, per se, isn't bold or daringly original - it is used, hackneyed and washed up. If you want to impress your new girl by predicting the future, you should take her to the film and keep saying what is likely to happen next, because it does happen that way. Even with the look in her eyes, you know Adam's girlfriend is going to break up sooner or later. Judging by the relation between the two, you know that Adam and Katherine are sooner or later going to have something between them (Dying Young, anyone?). You know Adam is going to do things he has never done before - like taking drugs, driving a car or burning a painting. Adam makes two friends at the cancer centre, and you know that someone is going to die. These aren't spoilers; these are events that you know are indubitably going to occur in the film.
But, here is the worst of all - the tagline of the film, as it proudly proclaims on the poster, is 'It takes a pair to beat the odds.' Past this point, it doesn't take a genius to figure out what happens in the end.
If you forgive the movie for that not-so-little-blunder it does make a rather enjoyable and emotional watch. By making the character of Adam so morose, pitiful and submissive even, it justs makes you want him not to die, which creates an emotional attachment between the viewers and the protagonist; a must for a film of this genre. He is a good man, but cancer has the tendency of always picking the good guys. The film brings forth a plethora of sentimental moments, that thankfully aren't mawkish - the way he responds to the doc's cold-hearted tumour statement, portraying the initial impression of mocking disbelief, but you can see the smile fading as the doctor pronounces his death like a radio broadcast, Adam learning about his girlfriend's betrayal, him being wheeled in for surgery after longingly hugging his mother - all deeply touching and heart-rendering, especially so because Adam doesn't deserve it.
What is interesting is the interplay of colours imposed in the movie. The colour scheme of each scene varies with Adam's emotions. The screen has yellow as the dominant colour when Adam tells about his condition to his girlfriend and mother. It is white and bright when Adam is relatively happy, when with Katherine and in the company of Kyle. The palette changes to a darker shade of yellow when he is alone and depressed. These subtle changes, are not only wonderfully done, but also elevate the feeling of morbidity and joy.
The background track, despite being used infrequently, works wonders for the movie. It plays a role similar to the colours, and strikes a resonating chord. Both the lead performances are adroitly delivered - Adam as the morbid cancer-inflict and Kyle as the ebullient friend-in- need. It is heartening to see Kyle maturing from a get-drunk-get-laid guy to a person who cares, drives his friend to the hospital and reads 'Facing Cancer Together.' In a similar way, it his heartening to see Adam smile through his pain and sorrows. Sadly, 50/50 adds plenty of characters that serve no major purpose whatsoever, instead of leaving it as just an Adam-and-Kyle show.