50/50 is a 2011 American drama film directed by Jonathan Levine, written by Will Reiser, and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Anjelica Huston. The film is loosely inspired by Reiser's own experience with cancer, with Gordon-Levitt’s character Adam based on Reiser himself. It was filmed from February to March 2010.
50/50 was released on September 30, 2011, and grossed $41 million. It received positive reviews, with particular praise for Gordon-Levitt and Rogen's performances and Reiser's screenplay. At the Golden Globe Awards, the film was nominated for the Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, as well as a Best Actor nomination for Gordon-Levitt.
Contents
Plot
Mild-mannered Adam Lerner is a 27-year-old public radio journalist in Seattle. His loyal but immature best friend Kyle disapproves of his girlfriend Rachael, an artist. After experiencing severe pains in his back, Adam is diagnosed with schwannoma neurofibrosarcoma, a cancerous tumor in his spine, and must undergo chemotherapy.
Searching on the Internet, Adam sees that the survival rate for his diagnosis is 50/50. After he reveals this to his emotional mother Diane, who is already nursing her Alzheimer's-stricken husband Richard, she offers to care for him. Adam declines, as Rachael has already promised to do so.
At one of his treatments, Adam meets Mitch and Alan, two older cancer patients also undergoing chemo, and they become friends, bonding through cannabis-laced macaroons. Rachael is uncomfortable with the idea of accompanying him during his treatments and is often late picking him up. She also gets Adam a retired racing greyhound named Skeletor as a pet.
Throughout Adam's struggle, Kyle attempts to keep up his morale, helping Adam shave his head and using his friend's illness to pick up women. While on a date, Kyle sees Rachael kissing another man at a gallery, so later forces her to confess her infidelity to Adam, who breaks up with her. He follows Kyle's suggestion, and they use his illness to pick up two women at a bar.
Meanwhile, Adam is being treated by a young, inexperienced therapist, Katherine McKay, a Ph.D. candidate doing the clinical aspect of her thesis at the hospital. While their relationship and sessions begin unevenly, he slowly opens up to her. After she drives him home following a chemo session, they develop a rapport, blurring their professional and personal relationship. She helps Adam understand his mother's situation: loved ones can also feel stress like the patient, which allows Adam to repair the rift between him and his mother.
When Mitch dies, Adam's mortality hits him, causing him to lash out at Katherine verbally. Shortly after, he is informed that the chemo has not worked. so he needs to undergo a risky surgery. The night before the operation, Adam argues with an intoxicated Kyle, demanding that he let him drive his car even though he has never learned and has no driver's license.
Production
Development
The screenplay is loosely based on the experience of screenwriter Will Reiser, friend of the film's co-lead, Seth Rogen. Reiser is also close with Evan Goldberg of Da Ali G Show. The title of Reiser's script was I'm with Cancer, but executives at Summit Entertainment changed the title of the film so as not to alienate audiences from the film's subject matter. The film was later renamed Live with It and then 50/50.
James McAvoy was going to play the lead role before he left the film for personal reasons, as he was afraid of missing the birth of his first child, and was replaced by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Filming
Principal photography took place in Vancouver over a five-week period, beginning in March 2010.
The head-shaving scene in the film was featured on the movie posters and commercials. At the 50/50 premiere in New York, Gordon-Levitt said, "We only had one take because you can't shave your head twice." Rogen recalled, "It was the first day of filming, and we improvised the whole thing, which is not wise when it's something you have one take for, but it turned out funny."
Reception
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 93% of 200 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The website's consensus reads: "A good-hearted film about a difficult topic, 50/50 maneuvers between jokes and drama with surprising finesse." Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score, gives the film a score of 72 out of 100, based on 42 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.
Sean Burns wrote in the Philadelphia Weekly that Levine "knows how to stay out of the way long enough to let a very talented cast shine, and Rogen's fundamental, unexpected decency, which can often only be expressed through shoulder-punching obscenities, grows more quietly moving as the picture wears on." Nicole Sperling of the Los Angeles Times commented, "With its union of humor and pathos, '50/50' offers audiences both a more sophisticated take on the typical Hollywood bromance, yet enough bawdy humor to lure in Rogen fans adverse to a film with cancer as its core." Cam Williams of SBS also praised the film's depiction of male friendship, describing it as counter to the "toxic masculinity inherent in so much modern filmmaking."
David Schmader, writing in The Stranger, praised "'50/50's stellar cast, from the omnipresent lead Joseph Gordon-Levitt (whose Rankin/Bass puppet face is put to beautifully nuanced use) to the all-star supporting cast: Anjelica Huston roars back to prominence with a twisty performance as Adam's barely contained mess of a mom, and Anna Kendrick's young doctoral student makes the film's rom-com aspirations not-ridiculous with her intelligent spontaneity and cute smile. But the comedy star is Seth Rogen, cast in the same role he played in screenwriter Reiser's life."
Accolades
The film was nominated for two awards at the 69th Golden Globe Awards. Gordon-Levitt received a nomination for Best Actor (Musical or Comedy) and the film itself was nominated for Best Picture (Musical or Comedy).
Seth Rogen addressed the film's lack of an Academy Award nomination in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, saying he predicted that it wouldn't be nominated, saying that he knew for a fact that "some people are appalled by the movie." He said of this, "I think it must be people who have very, very personal connections to the subject matter and just can't emotionally disconnect from their own experience. I respect that. But what we found for the most part is that people like to laugh at tragedy. It makes them feel better."
Top ten lists
The film was included in the following top ten lists for the best films of 2011:
Home media
50/50 was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in North America on January 24, 2012. Both releases include commentary, deleted scenes, and behind-the-scenes videos.
Songs
No official soundtrack was released; however, a number of pop songs appear in the film, such as:
"High and Dry" – Radiohead
"The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack" – Liars
"Bricks or Coconuts" – Jacuzzi Boys
"Simplicity" – Harmony & Balance
"New Country" – The Walkmen
"To Love Somebody" – Bee Gees
"Work to Do" – The Aggrolites
"Turn It Down" – Sideway Runners
"Stay the Same" – autoKratz
"Soul Connection" – The Diplomats of Solid Sound
"Too Late for Dancing" – Shapes and Sizes
"Days Gone Down (Still Got the Light in Your Eyes)" – Gerry Rafferty
"Crying" – Roy Orbison
"Yellow Ledbetter" – Pearl Jam