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The set-up is classic: a passive hipster in his 20s, living in the city and dealing with a dysfunctional relationship and a rather crude best friend, finds love in the wrong place. What brings the movie 50/50 out of the realms of the romantic comedy fairy land is something that does not belong there: cancer. Striping away the dramatic and overly emotional elements found in most movies and lifetime specials dealing with the all too real disease, comes a sterile and humorous outlook of a truly ironic diagnosis.
Adam Lerner, a character based off writer Will Reiser’s own experience, is a clean-cut and healthy young man who works as a radio producer in Seattle. He is a likable and genuine character who seems to live completely outside of the reality of human mortality until a cancerous tumor is found in his back. The reactions of his “loved ones” to the news is not accompanied by slow music and sobs. In fact, when his noncommittal girlfriend hugs him and sheds a tear it feels very insincere. The next scene shows his best friend Kyle, played by Reiser’s good friend Seth Rogen, proclaiming he is going to puke and follows up with some encouraging jokes. When asked if Rogen initially reacted to the news in real life with humor he replied, “My first thought wasn’t this is hilarious-my first thought was this is much different then it is in movies.”
And so with this project, Reiser and Rogen make a satire about this generation. As Adam’s girlfriend says she doesn’t want to accompany him to his first round of chemo because she doesn’t want to mix “this world”-youth, style, freedom, and carelessness- with “that one”- disease, frailty, hopelessness, and struggle. Cancer simply doesn’t have a place in this scene, which is apparent when Kyle encourages him to use it as a pick-up line and when it fails says, “I was wrong... it doesn’t sound cool.”
Adam’s love interests turns to his 24-year-old therapist played by Anna Kendrick. She has very little experience and awkwardly tries to console Adam with a pat on the hand and diagnosing his stages of acceptance. She juxtaposes the expectation of an older sage-like character who can help Adam transcend his experience. A scene where Kyle and Adam start to set fire and destroy the “modern art” of Adam’s ex-girlfriend really demonstrates the movie’s theme of shattering the illusion that we are beyond the realities of human mortality. In fact, it shows how the younger generation struggles with coming to terms with human degradation that comes with age and illness. A scene where Adam sits in pain from his treatment on the coach with two telephones on either of his sides in place of people paints a picture of this alienation.
Although this movie faces cancer head on and some other serious topics, the only tears that will be cried are those of laughter. Its commitment to keeping it real while providing comic relief gives it a unique and bittersweet edge. Joseph Gordon Levitt, who plays Adam, comments on the light outlook saying, “Even in the darkest times I think there are humorous moments.” In his collaborating production company called “hitrecord” Levitt is working on a project to collect people’s own tragic comedies. Laughing sometimes proves to be the best medicine and 50/50 takes a risk in showing that.
