What really makes films resonate with audiences is when it’s relatable. When you, sitting your seat, can think (even just for a moment) that this person on screen could be you then the writers have a hook in you. That’s why with some films they try to hit as many demographics as possible with multiple side characters. So when I sat down to watch 50/50 and watched Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) find out at the age of twenty-something that he had developed cancer you immediately get rooted in your seat (or at least I did as a twenty-something) and start to ponder about when the last time you went for a check-up with your doctor, and that’s the general strength of this film.
It plays on every character around Adam being somewhat relatable to the viewer. If you’re the best friend (Seth Rogen) how do you deal with this, if you’re his kind of serious girlfriend (Bryce Dallas-Howard), his mother (Anjelica Huston) or even his twenty-something doctor in training that’s supposed to be his therapist (Anna Kendrick) to help him manage this awkward and possibly life-threatening stage in his life. I can take a look on my facebook friends list and start to assign roles from this film to everyone in my life and wonder how well or poorly they would deal with it all.
50/50 is a sweet and kind hearted dramedy that takes cancer with some long strides with the younger generation. It’s a truly emotional honest look at the situation and it works. However, with that said at the same time it suffers from a few relationship issues. I feel that almost every female character’s relationship with Adam – his girlfriend, therapist and in some ways his mother – are all eventually found to be useless or rushed just for the sake of the plot. Add to the fact that Adam and his best friend are seeming to be in a weird space throughout the runtime of the movie which is swiftly resolved through a simple discovery in Kyle’s (Seth Rogen) bathroom one drunken night.
It’s the drama where the people you expect to go crazy and worry too much, the mother, do so and everyone else that isn’t being paid to be in his presence just seems barely affected at times. Some may say that would be a natural response to attempt to keep Adam calm, but at the same time I guess it just felt oddly constructed from the perspective we’re given; not to say Adam got a better one.
The biggest fault I can truly place on this film is with the character of Katherine (Anna Kendrick). I love Anna Kendrick, she’s the new young cute girl in films that seems to be able to manage the sliding scale of being hip and professional by the smallest of changes in her demeanour. In this film she does the very same thing with a touch of uncertainty about her as she’s new to the whole consoling game of therapy and also having a lot of things of her own to work out with. However, during all those awkward firsts for her treating Adam somewhere they decided that this relationship needed more and felt the need to make a bit of a leap towards the end of the film which felt somewhat odd.
When you get down to it the film works. It’s a good movie, but that’s the problem. It’s good, not great. It’s a film that I enjoyed and felt like I was almost brought to tears at times, but I didn’t leave the theatre wanting to see it again or even ask myself when it could be added to my shelf. It’s good, but not great.
Rating: 8.5/10