50/50: Can cancer ever be funny?

Hello Bloggershpere.

When you decide to watch a film a about a man that developed cancer you’re going to want to have the Kleenex at the ready, however when watching 50/50 (starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen and Anna Kendrick-directed by Jonathan Levine) I found myself choking on my popcorn with laughter, instead of crying into it.

But cancer can’t be funny, surely? It turns out it can. Seth Rogens’ character was defiantly my favourite ; playing the best friend to cancer patient Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) one would expect a sad and sympathetic best friend, however funny-man ‘Kyle’ instead uses his best friends’ cancer as a way to ‘pick up chicks’. Kyle’s’ unlikely reaction to finding out Adam as cancer was especially funny. His reply?  “50/50. If you were a casino game you’d have the best odds”.  I know right?

Even though the film can actually be classed a comedy, some of the saddest scenes in film history can be found in this one film. But fear not- instead of having a suicidal aftertaste in your mouth once the film is over, you can expect to have one of those ‘life-is-so-short-you-have-to-live-and-love- while-you-can’ epiphanies. And any film that actually makes you think about real-life at the end (and not how you wish you had a vampire boyfriend) is defiantly worth a watch.

Anyone that knows me knows that much like the academy, I do love an actor to suffer at least a little for role, and what I love about Joseph Gordon-Levitt, is that he didn’t hold back on his performance at all. Levitt shaves his head in just one take, and even loses weight to mirror a real cancer patient, and did it all for an indie film, to which you can’t be sure any recognition would come your way. For this however, Joseph was nominated for a Golden Globe for ‘Best actor in a motion picture comedy or musical lead in 2011. Of course he was overlooked, Paul Giamatti (whoever that is) won the award- but his nomination shows just how beautiful his performance was- without a doubt 50/50 was Levitt at his prime.

Expect a little bit of romance in there too, with Anna Kendrick playing his psychiatrist/girlfriend in the movie, which honestly works amazingly. And despite all the joking around, the love Adam is shown by the people around him really is incredibly heart-warming, and the fact this heart-breaking and hilarious story is a real one gives you all the more reason to watch this inspiring film.  The role of cancer patient Adam is based on the real-life Screen writer Will Reiser, and not surprisingly Seth Rogen character is based on… well, Seth Rogen.  So what are you waiting for? This drama/rom-com has a little something for everyone, whatever genre you like. So hit the link to watch the trailer below and get ready the shed some tears of joy and sadness…

My rating ****

Click here to watch the 50/50 trailer