Kiwi Film Review: 50/50

IMDB : 8.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes : 93%
Roger Ebert : 3.5 stars


Stars: Joseph Gordon Levitt, Seth Rogan, Anna Kendrick, and Bryce Dallas Howard.

Directed By: Jonathan Levine

Written By: Will Reiser

Described by IMDB as : “Inspired by a true story, a comedy centered on a 27-year-old guy who learns of his cancer diagnosis, and his subsequent struggle to beat the disease.”

I apologize in advance for what I assume is going to be a poorly written post as I am now half asleep.

Seriously, stop whatever you’re doing at this moment, and go see this freaking movie. First of all, I think that the poster is actually a perfect representation of this movie. Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) doing what he has to do, while Kyle(Seth Rogan) makes it slightly more difficult with his antics. I didn’t know until I looked up the information for this review that it was based on a true story, which is actually pretty cool, but super shitty for obvious reasons. It starts out with what seems to be a normal life. A seemingly healthy guy, Adam (JGL), going for a run, experiencing some back pain, but living life with his girlfriend and best friend and dealing with the stress that comes with work. Cut to, him finding out that he has cancer. The poor guys luck continues to go downhill when he finds out he has to do chemotherapy, and his girlfriend is cheating on him. First off, how messed up do you have to be to cheat on someone with cancer. Seriously not cool.

Throughout this whole process his best friend, Kyle (Rogan), is a semi helpful and semi selfish friend. So he occasionally uses Adam’s (JGL) cancer for sex, deep down he’s a pretty decent friend, driving him around and having his back when he see’s that Adam’s girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard) has been cheating. Then there is his therapist (Kendrick), who in the beginning seems slightly annoying and unhelpful, but in the end, he falls in love with her.

Its unbelievable how much I laughed in a movie about cancer but hot damn, they made it happen. However, as much as I laughed, I cried. There are some seriously sad parts in this movie. Luckily, *Spoiler Alert* it has a happy ending. The writing was so good, I seriously LOL’d for at least half of this movie, as did the rest of the audience. But the sad parts were sad. I’m pretty sappy when it comes to movies.. but I seriously cried at least 5 times in this film. It really takes a great film to evoke two very strong emotions. It just seems so wrong for such a young person to have to go through something this difficult, but as they say, shit happens.

I just absolutely love Joseph Gordon-Levitt and this film just adds to that love. His acting abilities continue to shine, and I can’t wait to see what he comes up with next. Seth Rogan’s character Kyle is much the same as a lot of his other, more well-known characters, but this one has a certain depth.

Overall I’d give this movie a 9/10. I absolutely loved it, and its definitely added to my list of favorite movies. Definitely a must see!

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