back to browsing

50/50 [DVD]

1 disc
Region 1 USA/CA (info)

Written by Will Reiser who based the film on his own experiences fighting cancer, Jonathan Levine's poignant comedy 50/50 stars Joseph Gordonn-Levitt as Adam, a 27-year old public radio employee who discovers he has cancer. As his best friend Kyle (Seth Rogen) tries to help out, his girlfriend Rachael (Bryce Dallas Howard) proves to be a less than ideal life partner for this particular crisis. All the while, Adam's o...Read More
Written by Will Reiser who based the film on his own experiences fighting cancer, Jonathan Levine's poignant comedy 50/50 stars Joseph Gordonn-Levitt as Adam, a 27-year old public radio employee who discovers he has cancer. As his best friend Kyle (Seth Rogen) tries to help out, his girlfriend Rachael (Bryce Dallas Howard) proves to be a less than ideal life partner for this particular crisis. All the while, Adam's overprotective mother Diane (Anjelica Huston) tries to overcome her son's continued attempts to keep her out of his life. As Adam begins to discover how hard it is to deal with his situation, and to maintain various relationships in his life, he begins seeing a young counselor (Anna Kendrick) who might prove to be just as helpful personally as she is professionally. Matt Frewer and Philip Baker Hall co-star as Adam's fellow chemotherapy patients. ...Read Less
Credits

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce, Dallas Howard, Anjelica Huston
Critic Reviews

3 stars out of 5 -- "Working from an autobiographical and aggressively competent script by Will Reiser, director Jonathan Levine smoothly realizes this memoir as a modest production that's disarmingly relatable..."
Box Office
"[With] artful direction by Jonathan Levine and an expertly assembled cast....50/50 may seem like an unlikely hybrid, but it grows on you."
Los Angeles Times
"[I]t's the Rogen-Goldberg touch, with the duo's characteristic SUPERBAD mash of the sweet and the bracingly coarse, that sells this unusual downer/upper of a life-and-death comedy." -- Grade: B+
Entertainment Weekly
"[I]t achieves the laughter-through-tears effect...thanks to the lightness and wit of Reiser's script; strong, committed performances; and some real insight into the difficulties of being supportive -- or, on the other end accepting that support."
A.V. Club
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "A movie handled with this kind of care is a rare gift. Refusing to hide from pain or bow to it, 50/50 makes its own rules."
Rolling Stone
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "Director Jonathan Levine has established the characters with enough care that the audience is prepared when they reveal greater depth toward the end."
Chicago Sun-Times
4 stars out of 5 -- "Jonathan Levine's film will get you, all right, but it'll get you with uniformly excellent performances, a moving and well-deployed soundtrack and, most impressive of all, genuine emotional truths."
Total Film
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "50/50 takes the hackneyed convention of illness-driven melodrama and reinvigorates it with honesty, clear-eyed compassion and unsentimental wit."
Washington Post