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Director: Jonathan Levine
Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick
Rated: 14a
Running time: 99 minutes
You know what's really funny? Cancer. Yeah, I'd love to have been in the pitch meeting when they brought that one out. Thankfully in this truly crazy world we inhabit, there certainly is humour to be found everywhere. Even in a debilitating terminal disease.
The film is actually written by Will Reiser, the same person who's the subject of the movie. He's played by quite well by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who comes out of the gate as a very nice, healthy, organized guy who gets told he has a nasty bit of spine cancer.
From there it's an updated Terms of Endearment as the cancer affects everyone in his life. Angelica Huston goes the smothering mother route while his girlfriend cracks under the pressure. Seth Rogen comes out all Seth Rogen-y with potty-talk humour significantly lightening the load, which is good whenever you get too far down the cancer road. This film is definitely well-titled as it lives completely in 50/50 dark comedy territory, showing the lighter side of the expression "as serious as cancer."
It is certainly always nice to see the iconic use of Vancouver as a backdrop. Perhaps my favourite part is an emotional moment when he says, "I've never even been to Canada" as he sits in a car just outside Stanley Park.
This film definitely got me at the right moment. It's a good dose of "we're all going to die so lighten up, suck it up, and try not to be a horrible person," certainly something we can all get behind.
