Sam Crichton
Period 2 APLAC
2/12/12
Cancer has played a role in many movies, such as My Sister's Keeper, A Walk to Remember, and Brian's Song. All of these movies have a serious, melodramatic, and gloomy interpretation of cancer. However, the movie 50/50 showed cancer in a light that the movie industry had not seen: a humorous one. Showing such a somber topic as comedic, certainly walks a fine line and needs a proper balance. Cancer is a terrible disease, and isn't ever thought of as something for people to laugh at, yet 50/50 manages to create a light and funny movie that captures cancer in a unique way. This is one of the many reasons it was one of the best movies of 2011.
The movie follows 27 year old Adam, portrayed by Joseph Gordon Levitt, who finds out he has cancerous tumors growing on his spinal cord. His odds of surviving this cancer are 50/50. During his journey of fighting cancer, he is surrounded by his loyal and blunt best friend Kyle, embodied by Seth Rogan, his inexperienced and quirky therapist, Katherine, played by Oscar nominated Anna Kendrick and selfish girlfriend, Rachael, played by Bryce Dallas Howard. 50/50 is based on a true story. The writer, Will Reiser, wrote about his own experience as a young man with cancer. Rogen, who plays his best friend, was also his best friend in real life as he battled cancer.
50/50 has everything a movie needs in order to be a stand out film. It has a compelling plot with an excellent script, believable characters, actors who deliver stellar performances and a director, Jonatha Levine, who wove the plot pieces into an excellent story.
The writing for the movie is exceptional. Reiser took on a quite a challenge for many reasons. He was writing about his own life, which can be an emotional struggle for anybody. Reiser also took on the challenge of balancing comedy and drama. The topic of the move is naturally dramtaic and Reiser blended the comedy in perfectly. Also, most movies that deal with cancer have another major sub plot, often times, not related to the cancer. 50/50 focuses mainly on the impact his cancer had on his life. The audience is taken on his journey through therapy, chemotherapy, and the changes within his relationships.
The acting in 50/50 is outstanding as well. Gordon Levitt embodies his character perfectly. His performance is real and touching. When Adam found out he had cancer, Gordon's reaction was natural and believable. Gordon takes the audience on a roller coaster ride with his acting. You see his character in some of the darkest moments of his life and you also see him in light hearted, funny scenes. His comedic sidekick, Rogen, keeps the audience laughing with his hillarious performance. Soon after his friend is diagnosed, Rogen's character takes him to a bar to use his cancer as a way to pick up women. Instead of coming off as tacky the scene is both funny and realistic. Kendrick does an excellent job of portraying the tense, odd and naive therapist who is assigned to Adam to help him deal with the emotional aspects of having cancer. Adam and his therapist ultimately form a romantic relationship. The two demonstrate charming chemistry together. Howard brings an in-depth performance as the self-centered girlfriend to the screen.
Even the minor characters added both poignant and comedic moments to the film. Matt Frewer and Phillip Baker Hall played two likable and hilarious cancer patients who were going through treatment with Adam. Each added amusing performances to the movie. Aneglica Houston, who portrayed Adam's mother, gave a realistic performance that captured the anguish a mother would face in this situation, yet she also provided comic relief.
Levine put the movie together in a way that captures every struggle each character would endure during this rough journey. The movie is raw and real. Levine did a great job setting the right tone for each scene. He could appropriately inject humor into a scene with three men receiving chemotherapy and provide a dramtic and intense scene as Adam is facing a potentially life threatening surgery.
The movie's excellence has been recognized as it has been nominated for and received mutliple awards. The film was nominated for two Golden Globes, one for Best Picture Comedy or Musical and one for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Comedy or Musical. Also, Gordon Levitt won the Best Actor award from the Hollywood Film Festival. The movie is also nominated for the upcoming Independent Spirit Awards in the categories of Best Feature Film, Best First Screenplay and Best Supporting Female (Houston).
Overall, 50/50's clever writing, brilliant acting, and tremendous directing created one of the best movies of the year.
Sources
"50/50", IMDB.com, accessed on February 12, 2012 http://wwww.imdb.com/titlett1206890/.
I really liked your movie evaluation as you right away started with a comparison. I think that was a unique hook to grab onto the audience. While your summary of the movie was concise, it was complete as well. Also, your definition of what a good movie was straight forward. The tone in this is real and somewhat informal but certainly works. To add, I especially liked how you added the awards that this movie won as well as the actors. That adds credibility and makes the audience want to see the movie even more. Throughout this entire evaluation you were very descriptive and analyzed well of what emotions different scenes and characters portrayed.
ReplyDeleteI like how you examined what makes a great movie right from the beginning and then gave examples from the movie to prove that. It was a nice review of the character struggles and how the actors portrayed the roles themselves. A fantastic review that shows credibility and devotion to the film.
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