In the new movie “50/50,” Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a 27-year-old named Adam who receives a big shock one day: he has a cancerous tumor on his spinal column. After doing some research, he discovers the survival rate is 50/50. Hence the title. The reactions are fairly predictable. Adam’s girlfriend is seemingly okay with it, his mom is scandalized, his co-workers all try to offer advice and his best friend Kyle tries to downplay it with humor that backfires. He notes all the celebrity cases of surviving cancer and mistakenly includes Patrick Swayze. Instead of making Adam feel better, he only makes Adam worry more.
Seth Rogen is unfortunately typecast as the more immature sidekick Kyle, but he at least adds some maturity and sensitivity to this character. Kyle is one of the few sources of encouragement Adam has. He does test Adam’s patience when he tries to win women over by manipulating Adam’s situation to his own advantage. As usual, Rogen offers some light-hearted comedic moments, such as the scene where he talks to a man from Wales and asks, “So, does that make you Welsh or Whale-ish?”
Philip Baker Hall is one of the best things about this movie. Hall has been a character actor for years, bringing depth to small bit roles largely unnoticed.
At this stage in his career, he’s carving out a niche playing variations on cranky, old men. In “50/50,” he is a fellow cancer patient at the hospital with Adam, and they bond, along with their adopted friend Mitch. When an unforeseen event occurs, Adam is shocked and is unable to wrap his head around it. Hall, with his decades more of life experience, says to Adam, “What does it matter?” Hall is able to convey a man who is no longer surprised by the cruel endeavors he encounters, seeing through the facades that Adam can’t.
Hall was also strong in a guest appearance on “Modern Family” as the elderly neighbor who strikes up a friendship with Luke Dunphey. Hall was able to perfectly capture an elderly man dealing with poor health but wise in the ways of the world. He’s good enough here, but you wish he had a larger role somehow.
The major issue in this movie is the difficult melding into one whole of comedy and drama. The movie doesn’t always succeed in this, most notably in the intense dramatic scenes between Adam and his mom. Drama must build slowly and while there is successful drama in the scenes with Hall and in confrontations between Adam and Kyle, the scenes involving him and his mother just feel forced. Some of the issue has to do with Anjelica Huston. She is trying to play a nagging mother, but I was never convinced. Annette Bening recently did a good job with this kind of role in “The Kids Are All Right.” She wasn’t nagging, but she was overbearing and protective. Huston simply isn’t convincing with the heavy emotions that great actresses like Bening are able to convey more subtly and build slowly over time.
Ultimately, though, as someone told me, the movie’s greatest strength is making us care for Adam. The poor guy has cancer, he’s had a string of bad relationships and he has a strained relationship with his parents. Credit Gordon-Levitt, who manages to carry most of the heavy drama and shows a flair for the comedic parts too. “50/50” does take a look at death, but never too seriously. It is more about the resilience of a young man to keep struggling and realizing, along with the audience, maybe that struggle is worthwhile.
3 stars out of 4
