50/50

“Mom, do you remember that movie Terms of Endearment?” These words are directed by Adam to his mother sitting across form him at the dinner table. Next to her is his father, a Alzheimer's victim, who is completely oblivious to what is going on. His girlfriend Rachel, sitting on his left, shoots him a warning glance. “Just tell her”, She pleads, "Just say it!" But there is no easy way. Adam must tell his parents that he has cancer.
 
Joseph Gordon-Levitt is Adam and the movie 50/50 is based on the true-life experience of his co-star Seth Rogen. Seth Rogen as Kyle is essentially playing a version of himself. He and his best faced a cancer scare together and once in recovery they decided to write about it. Their goal was to take an honest, yet humorous look at managing cancer and how it impacts the people around you.
 
In 50/50, Bryce Dallas Howard plays Adam’s girlfriend and in the beginning she appears to be the perfect caregiver, but battling cancer is a stressful task and soon Rachel is displaying the chinks in her armor. Anjelica Huston portrays Diane, Adam’s mother and she is offended that Adam has not come to her for help. She lives to care for others and is already adept at caring for her husband. All she wants is to mother her little boy, but Adam is just trying to live a normal life.
 
As part of his treatment Adam is sent to a therapist (Anna Kendrick) as he undergoes chemotherapy. Katherine is young, inexperienced and full of rookie mistakes. But she genially cares for Adam and allows him to see how others care for him as well. As Adam struggles to hang onto life he learns what matters most and who he can really count on. 50/50 is frank, the antithesis of maudlin and at times very funny. Seth Rogen is in rare form and Joseph Gordon-Levitt delivers an honest, unsentimental portrait. This is no Terms of Endearment, nor is it Brian’s Song. This is a cancer movie written by guys for guys, so leave your hankies at home.

Rating: First Run A cancer movie for the guys