50/50

50/50 stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as an average guy, who receives a surprise cancer diagnosis and must come to grips with the ailment. Seth Rogen plays his best friend, who tries to keep a happy spin on things with his poop and weed jokes. The film has such a strong pace that after a relatively slow start, the viewer has no idea how emotionally attached they have become to the lead and his impending death until the end. While someone who knows the realities of this type of battle first hand may disagree, the script gives an incredible amount of attention to the realism of it all.

Gordon-Levitt’s rise to super stardom has been a bit slower than I expected, but there is no doubt that he can act with the best of them. I don’t begin to understand what the Academy blowhards are thinking, but I’d like to see Gordon-Levitt’s name come up in the award conversations. Rogen does well when compared to his other performances, but his counterpart is on a whole different level. There is the overdone moment of characters getting high together and becoming instant friends, though I must say eating weed filled macaroons with old guys during chemo therapy just isn’t as offensive as the usual way it plays out. I still find it unnecessary though.

50/50 is a fairly sad movie. There’s no pretending that it’s not. But it’s just as inspiring as it is depressing. The script allows for a reasonable amount of comedy to complement the drama, but it’s subtler than the advertisements would have you think. The strength of the script and the convincing acting of Joseph Gordon-Levitt place 50/50 among the top films of the year so far. At the end of the day some awkward jokes and under developed characters may keep the door shut on its trophy cabinet. (9.0 out of 10)