50/50

I recommend this be read after you see the film 50/50 due to spoiler alerts.  I also recommend you see 50/50.  So now that that's covered without further ado......I give you my review.

Will Reiser wrote the film 50/50 with good friend Seth Rogen (who acts in the film) and based it on his experiences once he was diagnosed with cancer six years ago.  He decided to make it a comedy by showing how people react to others' illnesses.  In fact, after showing it to many cancer patients and survivors, they thanked him for not making it a sob story.  I still cried a little bit because they were some very sad moments, but I appreciated the humor as well.

50/50 was directed by Jonathan Levine (who has only directed less famous films like The Wackness and All the Boys Love Mandy Lane) and stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt (500 Days of Summer; Inception) as Adam Lerner who's diagnosed with cancer at the tender age of 27, and Seth Rogen (Knocked Up; The Green Hornet) who plays his best friend Kyle.  The film centers around Adam and the people around him's reactions to his illness.  After telling his mother (Anjelica Huston, The Royal Tenenbaums; Addams Family Values) who, even though she's already taking care of Adam's Alzheimer father, wants to move in with him and take care of him.  Adam refuses to let her.  Adam's girlfriend, Rachel, (Bryce Dallas Howard, The Help; Twilight: Eclipse) agrees to help him out by moving in with him and driving him to appointments.  Apparently, she wasn't ready for the pressure of loving a cancer patient because soon after she cheats on Adam.  I'm sorry but even if my boyfriend was bald and had cancer, if you looked like Joseph Gordon-Levitt, I would never in a million years cheat on him.  Unfortunately, like many other actors, Howard is becoming a character actor, always playing bitchy or evil characters.  I have to remember that it's fiction because ever since she stopped being in M. Night Shyamalan's films, I've stopped liking her as a person.  Even in Spider-Man 3.  Then there's Adam's young therapist, Dr. Katherine Mckay played by Anna Kendrick (Twilight Saga; Up in the Air; Scott Pilgrim), who's working on her doctorate and trying her best to make Adam feel better in a professional way.  I am proud of Kendrick's success outside of the Twilight films.  Unfortunately, her characters have similar personalities, so I'm having a hard time separating her from Jessica.  I hope in the future, once Twilight is over, she'll break out of her shell and try more dramatic roles.  Forgot to mention, fabulous job by Huston.  I haven't seen her in a while, and I liked her performance as Adam's mother.

All in all, I thought this was a fantabulous film.  Maybe even Oscar worthy.  The only thing that might bother some people is the relationship between Adam and Katherine, only because she is his therapist.  My sister is a psychologist, and although I thought it was cute (and saw it coming and rooted for them) she may just see it as unprofessional, which it completely was.  I think any person in the medical field would see that as well, and it may take away from the reality of the film.  I'm not sure, but it's probably something she could lose her job over.  Of course, I don't really know how often it happens either.  I think if she had a different job in the hospital, perhaps his nurse, then people would still get the message.  I personally think other than being unprofessional, it would be awkward to date your therapist.  I mean they know so many things about you that perhaps you wouldn't tell a significant other.  I guess I'm thinking too far into it, and that's why its fiction.  But anyway, see the movie.  They made having cancer into a comedy without making it offensive, and that's great.  I think someone that went through it is the only person that can pull that off.  Kudos!
All in all,