50/50 is a remarkably light and at the same time an unflinching
look at what cancer does to relationships, best encapsulated by a character’s
admission during a tender moment, “I’m peeing right now.” Heartfelt without succumbing to saccharine
moments (Levitt’s character actually begins his cancer reveal to his parents, “Have
you ever seen ‘Terms of Endearment’?”, signaling this film is definitely not
striving to be a carbon copy of that.), the film worked for me with a
combination of real moments, laugh-out-loud humor, and actors who have real
chemistry.
I know that Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogan got top
billing, and their bromance is well-executed, but the scenes between cancer
patient Levitt and his newbie therapist Anna Kendrick absolutely carry the
film. And this isn’t a Taster’s Choice support
group between men, as in, say, “Good Will Hunting”, but two young kids not
quite sure of how to do this. Levitt is Kendrick’s
*third* patient ever, and she’s only a doctorate candidate. While she gives some plainly blunt great
advice, she admits she’s terrified of screwing up her job, because that means
screwing up someone’s life. Their mutual
awkwardness transgresses the therapist-patient line in very believable and
sincere ways. You’re rooting for them to
shelf the boundaries from minute one, because they so clearly have a real
chemistry on screen. It doesn’t help
that Levitt is his usual affably charming self, and Kendrick is about as cute
as can be.
I’d even think about picking it up on DVD.
