50/50 is a buddy comedy that tackles a subject that no buddy movie has dared before: cancer.  It is based on the real-life experiences of actor Seth Rogen and his friend, producer/screenwriter Will Reiser.  Reiser was diagnosed with spinal cancer at age 25 and it is something he and Rogen talked about often.  Realizing that no movie had really captured their experiences, they began development of this film.  No matter what people’s opinion of the final film, the story has a happy ending as Reiser has been in remission for years.  Therefore, it is something of a bonus that the movie turns out to be quite good.

Rogen’s character in the movie is named Kyle, but let’s face it, he’s playing himself.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt acts as Reiser’s stand-in Adam.  Adam goes to the doctor early in the movie to find out why his back has been bothering him and is shocked to hear that he has a rare kind of cancer on his spine.  Not exactly sure how to face this life-changing and possibly fatal disease, Adam turns to his best friend Kyle and his girlfriend Rachael for support.  Unfortunately, Rachael turns out to be a flake, while Kyle only seems interested in figuring out how to use his friend’s illness as a way of getting girls.

Adam is supposed to find support in the form of a hospital therapist, but is flummoxed by the fact that the hospital is a training ground and his 24-year-old therapist is still working on her degree.  Fortunately, he’s found a couple of older cancer patients he can connect with during his chemo treatment.  Kyle eventually comes around, too, and is there to support his friend when he really needs it.

50/50 may be a comedy, but that doesn’t mean it fails to take its subject very seriously.  It is clear throughout the movie that this is a very important story for Rogen, who also produces, and Reiser, who wrote the screenplay.  The movie touches on all the key elements, whether that be hair loss, a diminished libido, or coming to grips with the fact that you could die in your twenties.  It is what you might call a laugh-through-your-tears movie and it is very effective in eliciting both the tears and the laughs.

Gordon-Levitt went all the way for the role, shaving his head completely bald on the first day of shooting.  The young actor delivers another in a long line of terrific performances.  He is one of those actors who makes it very easy for the audience to relate to their characters and therefore he is a perfect fit for this role.  As for Rogen, well, at times a little Seth Rogen can go a long way.  Still, the actor comes through in the movie’s more important scenes, again reflecting how personal of a project this is for the comedic actor.  The rest of the cast fills out the story nicely, notably Anna Kendrick as the therapist and Phillip Baker Hall and Matt Frewer as Adam’s marijuana-using chemo buddies.  Also, fresh off of playing the year’s best villain in The Help, Bryce Dallas Howard again gets the brunt of our anger—and Kyle’s—as Adam’s girlfriend.  Also earning the audience’s affection is a thin, aging dog appropriately named Skeletor.

50/50 finds the perfect balance of comedy and pathos making it one of those rare movies that you could recommend to anyone.

50/50 is rated R for “language throughout, sexual content and some drug use.”  Although it does contain those three elements, I was somewhat surprised to learn that this movie was not PG-13.

Courtesy of a local publicist, Jeff attended a promotional screening of 50/50