The world needs more cancer comedies. But it may not need more cancer comedies like 50/50. It’s not that 50/50 is insensitive or dull or unfunny — it sidesteps all those potential flaws with the delicacy of the most precise surgeon. Then again, the picture’s delicacy may be misplaced: Directed by Jonathan Levine (who, in 2008, brought us The Wackness) and written by Will Reiser, 50/50 never risks offending or shocking us as far as the cancer angle goes, but it does slot in some pretty ho-hum non-cancer-related crudeness wherever it can. When cancer-stricken Adam, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, shaves his head with electric clippers belonging to his best friend, Kyle (Seth Rogen), you don’t have to guess where those clippers have been — the movie tells you.
But where 50/50 does succeed is in showing cancer — or illness in general — as a part of life, instead of just treating it as a device to set the dramatic weight swinging. The picture could be so much better than it is, and yet it’s also the kind of movie that makes you want to grade on the curve, adding extra points for good intentions. Adam and Kyle are pals who work in radio, the sort of gig that might have seemed like a dream job even 20 years ago, but now may as well be work performed by dinosaurs (and I say that ruefully). There’s no great buildup to Adam’s diagnosis, no overwrought, underlit “I found a lump!” preamble. His doctor delivers the diagnosis in a stream of jargon; it…
Chloë Sevigny Christina Aguilera Christina Applegate Christina DaRe Christina Milian Christina Ricci Chyler Leigh
No comments:
Post a Comment