Review: 50/50

A comedy about a young man who learns he has cancer, and his battle to beat the disease: 50/50 essentially takes the good half of Funny People and turns it into its own full-length feature film.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a step up from Adam Sandler in that he can actually handle the dramatic stuff when it comes his way and 50/50 features several beautifully shot sequences that show both the desperation of the disease alongside an uplifting live for the moment attitude alongside it. One particular scene brings a new meaning to the term hospital trip. Seth Rogen is probably meant to be seen as comic relief, but the whole vile and nasty man-child routine seems horribly out of place with the film. The highlight isn't JGL's relationship with Rogen, but his with fellow patients Philip Baker Hall and Matt Frewer in combining successfully mirth with morbid in the way the film sets out to.

However, the major downer on the film for me was how it portrays its female characters - Bryce Dallas Howard's Rachel reprisals for her failings as a girlfriend are particularly unpleasant and aggressive. Right from the start she is castigated for not fulfilling her duty of sex with a man who later admits has never said he loves her. This nasty streak is present throughout with Adam's mother shown as smothering and a bit mental. Countless anonymous bimbos are lined up who can't resist the lure of a cancer sufferer just to reinforce what women are simply good for. Even though Anna Kendrick gets shown some sympathy as love interest, she spends most of the film being portrayed as hopeless at her job and can't wait to ignore all that professional ethics gubbins and get with Adam.

It's a shame the misogynistic undertones are the lasting memory of what is an interesting film, with Levitt's nuanced performance having plenty to recommend about it. 50/50 seems pretty apt in the end.