50 / 50 (review)

50/50 is a movie that is attempting to get a balance between being heavy drama and a light-hearted comedy. It tries to mesh ‘Terms of Endearment’ to ‘Funny People. It takes a look at a serious subject, but it never tries to overwhelm the view with too much of a downer attitude. It does succeed about 50 percent of the time.

Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is young employee of a Seattle NPR radio station, and his best friend is Kyle (played by Seth Rogan) who also works there with him. He has a great looking girlfriend Rachel (Bryce Dallas Howard). She is an artist who paints abstract art. Adam suffers some back pain and finally goes in to see a doctor. There he gets some very bad news. He has developed a rare form of cancer. How could this be, he says, “I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I even recycle”. Bad karma, dude.

He does not take this well. Rachel is even less enthusiastic with Adam, and she starts cheating on him. Kyle finds out and tells Adam. Adam dumps her and tells her to leave. Kyle does all he can to cheer up Adam. But Adam is in shock from the news. The doctor tells him to visit a therapist to get treatment for his down condition. Lucky for him, he gets to visit Katie McKay (Anna Kendrick) who has worked with exactly two other people so far. Katie is very new to therapy work and does not get Adam to trust her at first.

Adam needs to undergo chemotherapy and he meets a couple of older guys in the process. Alan (Philip Baker Hall and Mitch (Matt Frewer) are also getting treatment, and they share some ‘special’ brownies with Adam. He bond with them, and also with a ‘rescue’ dog (named Skeletor) that Rachel got from the pound. Kyle wants to help Adam, and a one point tells him lots of people have survived cancer; Lance Armstrong and Patrick Swayze. Opps, not the best example!

With the chemo, Adam decides to shave his head. Kyle is freaked out about him doing that. Adam uses an electric razor that Kyle has to get it done. But Kyle is more freaked that Adam has used it on his head. Kyle never shaves, so where does he use it? Hint: He sits on it most of the time…

Kyle tries to cheer up Adam by bar-hopping and picking up girls. After all, they just love a man with a disease, he says. But Adam is not so sure. “I look just like Voldermort!” Adam says. Kyle gets his wish and they hang out to get girls. And it does seem to work, especially when he mentions that he also has ‘medical marijuana’.

Adam has been very frosty to his mother (Angelica Huston) and brushes her off all the time. She takes care of Adam’s father who has Alzheimer’s. She wants to have a better relationship with Adam and tries to be helpful, but he refuses. Slowly, he sees that she is suffering is a different way. They finally do become closer when Adam needs to have a difficult surgery that might remove the cancer.

Adam has the procedure and it takes a toll on him, but he survives and prospects are brighter for him. Kyle has been trying all along to keep Adam going, even though Adam did not know it at the time. Adam has been getting a lot of help from Katie, and she has developed a strong affection for Adam. Eventually, Katie is no longer his therapist, and they can date. She comes over his house one night after he has recovered. They look at each other and she says “Now what?”. Perhaps the story Adam and Katie can be a sequel. Now what would that be called?