I feel a bit guilty being a dissenting voice on 50/50, as it tackles such a serious subject matter, and a has a very likable lead character. But in the end, there just wasn't much substance to this piece, until the final few minutes, for me to really invest in it.
Most of the material in the script is dealt with the slack, off-handed "Dude, remember the time you got cancer? Yeah, sucked, huh?" type of way.
The film works so hard to not be serious or over-dramatic, that it winds up with almost no drama at all. When a serious moment does arise for the character, a pop tune is inserted into the soundtrack, to make sure we as the audience don't have to sit with the pain and confusion that the character is feeling. We can simply zone out for a bit, while we sway to the music.
Now, I certainly wasn't expecting "Terms of Endearment", or a super-serious drama, but I also wasn't expecting the topic to be handled in such an incredibly frivolous, predictable, and frankly, sometimes boring manner.
The film doesn't quite work as a drama, and even though there is a few genuinely funny moments, they are certainly not enough to sustain it as a comedy. The plot itself is fairly cliché and predictable. You'd have to have never watched a film before not to know just about every development that will come to pass; other than the eventual health outcome of the Levitt's character. But frankly, even that was tipped off to anyone who saw the weeks of promotion in the run-up to the film where Seth Rogan speaks about the film being based on a true story.
What basically saves the film in the end is Joseph Gordon Levitt's likability factor, and a very strong performance by his mother, Angelica Houston, who unfortunately, didn't get more screen time. Had the film focused on that, it may have been stronger. Seth Rogan's character seems only to serve as a device for comic relief, to make sure we don't get too down.
The last part of the film ends strong and hits all the emotional buttons (it would've made a great short), but the majority of the film is basically another arrested development story, with Rogan's character acting like the affable, 12-year old boy, providing his fair share of * and weed jokes, that we've grown to love...or at least tolerate. This was surprising, after I'd heard so much talk about how different this character was from all his others.
I'm sure it was very difficult, especially in today's filmmaking environment, to get a film about cancer made. This is likely why the director and writers tried to lighten it up whenever possible. But one can only dilute a potent cocktail so much before it simply gets too watered down to drink.
Unfortunately, I will likely remember very little about this film, except for the end, which was handled quite well. For me, it just wasn't enough to make up for the insignificance of the first hour and twenty minutes.
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