Let me start off by saying that I really enjoy and appreciate Joseph Gordon-Levitt.  It’s stupid to say that I have a crush on him because its pretty obvious that I have a super crush on him.  But other than that, I really like the movies he chooses to participate.  I mean, he was alright in Angels in the Outfield.  But he really did a good job in Mysterious Skin.  It takes skill to act like a prostitute, right?  500 Days of Summer was great as well.

Anyway, 50/50 was the movie I saw today.  It’s about Adam (Joseph Gordon Levitt) and his best friend (Seth Rogen).  Adam is diagnosed with a rare cancer and undergoes chemotherapy before the doctors can operate on the tumor.  The movie is the course of events that stem from this cancer.  Adam is a twenty-something Seattlite who has a job at a radio station with his best friend Kyle.  It’s revealed that Adam’s girlfriend Rachael (played by Bryce Dallas Howard) and him has grown distinct since they haven’t had sex in a few weeks.  Adam has been experiencing back pains and finally goes to a doctor only to find he has a rare genetic cancer located somewhere in his back.  When Adam goes online to look up this rare cancer, he finds that the mortality rate of this cancer to be 50%, hence the title of the movie.

Adam then tells Rachael about the cancer and gives her an out by telling her that she can leave if dealing with the cancer is too much for her.  She insists that she wants to stay, no matter what.  Adam’s mother breaks down.  And I really feel for this woman because her husband has Alzheimer’s Disease and now her son has a rare back cancer.  But the mother, played by Anjelica Huston, accepts that Rachael will be the one who takes care of Adam during his chemotherapy.  Kyle throws Adam a party at work to cheer Adam up and to break the news to everyone else.

The therapist that Adam was sent to is Katherine, played by Anna Kendrick.  At first their encounters are defensive and superficial.  Adam feels, I believe, vulnerable and so he has to compensate by closing himself up.  He finds out that Katherine has only had three patients and that she’s not fully a psychological doctor.  This does not make Adam feel any better but they power through the first meeting together.  Kyle works overtime to cheer Adam up but of course, chemotherapy isn’t a great process.  During a chemotherapy session, Adam meets these two old men who offer him a bunch of *special* cookies.  Adam, this straight-laced guy who doesn’t do drugs or drink, accepts the cookies from these two men, played by Matt Frewer and Philip Baker Hall.  It’s sad that during these chemotherapy sessions, Rachael prefers to stay outside and uses a very lame excuse.  I believe it was Matt Frewer’s character who said, “Sure, no one likes hospitals, that’s not why you come here.” and its true.  I suppose this was a foreshadowing of the eventual demise of their relationship.

Katherine had suggested to Adam a few books about dealing with cancer so Adam and Kyle go together to a bookstore.  Kyle is trying to persuade Adam to use his cancer status to his advantage.  As an example, Kyle goes up to a girl at the bookstore and asks about the cancer books.  This is enough to win Kyle a date with the girl and they go out afterwards to a gallery opening.  While at the gallery opening, Kyle spots Rachael kissing another guy and tries to snap a picture.  He rushes home to show Adam.  Adam, sick from the chemotherapy, is laying in bed and smoking pot to alleviate his symptoms.  Rachael was supposed to stop by from the gallery opening but ran late.  As she walks into the door, Kyle arrives and enters as well and shows Adam the picture of Rachael with another guy.  Rachael tries to convince Adam that they can talk about it in the morning but Kyle chases her off.  This was the end of that relationship.

With Rachael out of the picture Kyle then tries to convince Adam to use his cancer to get laid and hopefully get over Rachael.  But after an encounter with a two pretty girls at the bar, Adam realizes that one night stands isn’t what he was looking for.  He further withdraws into himself only finally opening to Katherine, the therapist, when she was giving him a ride home from chemotherapy (she happens to work at the same hospital and they left at the same time).  There is obviously chemistry between these two but the therapist-patient relationship made things impossible for the time being.  Later Adam discovers that one of the men he had met during his chemotherapy sessions passed away and starts to realize that he might share the same fate.

The climax starts when Adam finds out that the chemotherapy has not been working and his doctor recommended that they perform the surgery in a few days.  The therapy session that followed was a disaster as Adam, both from the news about his surgery and from the death of his friend from cancer, reaches a point where it seems the most hopeless.  Adam has a hard time dealing with the fact that he is going to die (as I think most people would agree).  He leaves Katherine’s office with low spirits, leaving Katherine to deal with her own developing feelings about him.  That night, Adam asks to drive Kyle’s car since Adam has never learned how to drive.  Recklessly driving with no regard to his own life, Adam finally has a breakdown and calls Katherine on her cell phone to settle a few things.  He says, “I bet you’ll make a great girlfriend.”

I think at this point I really teared up.  I could just empathize with this guy.  One of the things in life that I’ve beginning to realize is that endings are so scary.  At least the endings that are inevitable.  I empathized with Adam so much.  I couldn’t begin to imagine how I would feel if my life was just hanging by a few ticks of the clock.  This feeling of impending doom was so thick.

The morning of the surgery, every sentence felt like it ended with a period.  A very final sound at the close.  Adam’s mother is beside him before the surgery as he gets nervous.  They add the anesthesia and wheel him into the operating room.  Out in the waiting room, Adam’s mother and father sit next to Kyle, each awaiting nervously the news (well, his dad isn’t so nervous since he has Alzheimer’s).

And the ending is, well its just the ending.

I thought the movie was awesome and amazing.  I really like the camera work, the colors and style of all the characters.  And I feel as if I really connected with them.  I probably could not begin to imagine what it must be like for Adam to go through something like that.  And its true that he found out who his true friends are.  When Adam carried Kyle home from the freak out Adam had in the car, Adam found a book that Kyle had in his bathroom about dealing with cancer with pages dog eared and passages underline and I think I teared up at that part too.  It’s often not what people show that most gets me.  It was very telling that scene since it was when Adam looked past his own problems and saw his best friend’s problem.  Kyle wasn’t just the comedic entertainment, he was the guy who might lose his best friend.  Once Adam realized that, they gained a better understanding of each other.

Definitely must see.