50/50
I'm assuming everyone out there knows the premise of this one: the comedy about cancer. Well, that's the thumb-nail sketch version anyway. It's true, it is a comedy about cancer. But to leave it at that would diminish the total package that this film actually is. What it is, is a fantastic movie- perhaps even the best I've ever seen- about what you do when everything falls to shit. Realistically, what happens now? The answer? You deal. This is a movie about how one guy (the never-better Joseph Gordon-Levitt) dealt with the shitty turn his life took. Of course, he's helped (or hindered) along in this dealing process by the world's worst girlfriend, the world's worst best friend, the world's worst doctor, and the world's worst counselor.
Yes, these characters are- on paper- caricatures but they work well within the framework of the movie. You know why? Because while it would be odd for Adam (Gordon-Levitt) to have to experience all these people at the same time, they are all real people. His girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard) is a bit batshit crazy and can't handle his sickness so she cheats on him, his best friend (Seth Rogen) refuses to let Adam play the pity party routine... unless it's to help the two of them score a quick and easy lay, his mother (Anjelica Huston) is a first-class, self-absorbed smotherer, and his illness counselor (Anna Kendrick) is completely unprepared to make that dive from the theory world to the real world as she slowly realizes that in the latter, the case studies talk back. In each case, these are really believable characters. The fact that they don't slip into out-sized caricatures is due to the remarkable effort of each member of the cast and the writer (Will Reiser, fictionalizing his real-life battle with cancer) and director (Jonathan Levine). Each of these folks show remarkable constraint and the actors a fine eye for nuance. They don't force the absurdities here (though some of the more crass humor doesn't always flow the best), they all manage to sit back and let the story happen. By the end, all of the characters revolving around Adam seem normal. And that's the key.
Almost everything flows so naturally that it doesn't always feel like a comedy. It never feels like they're setting up punchlines. Maybe that's because- at its heart- this isn't actually a comedy. It's more of a dramedy. Or just an excellent movie. I think categorizing it is almost a mistake. If you go in expecting a typical Seth Rogen comedy, you'll get bits of it, but may be caught off guard (though hopefully not put off) by the level of sincerity and emotional complexity here. If you go in expecting Hallmark channel sugar and inspirational and explicit messages about beating the odds, you will undoubtedly be put off by the more base aspects of the humor. Adam isn't some pedestal-decoration hero. He's just a guy doing what he can, feeling what he feels as he deals with a particularly scary moment of his life. You will be touched, you will be moved, and if you're like me, you'll laugh. And that amounts to an all-in-all great movie.
I would be remiss, however, if I didn't single out Gordon-Levitt. All of the cast is tremendous. As I mentioned earlier, in lesser and less nuanced hands, this could easily have devolved into a study of absurdity- "with folks like this in his life, is cancer really his biggest worry?". The cast simply wouldn't let it. And leading the charge in this determined effort was Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It must have been- by turns- the easiest and most difficult part he's had to play. Easy because the film requires him to be nothing other than a normal every guy. Difficult because he must- in a believable manner- take the audience on a roller coaster ride of emotion. Because, in most instances, that's what would happen if any number of people were in Adam's shoes. It didn't take long before I was completely drawn in to Gordon-Levitt's mesmerizing performance. His take on Adam encourages empathy from the audience. He's out there showing you exactly how Adam feels and what he's going through and the performance feels uncannily real. I'm not sure there are many others in Hollywood today who could have gone from the highs of...well... getting high on medicinal marijuana while watching PBS to the lows of a nervous breakdown on the night before his do-or-die surgery with the nonchalant ease of Gordon-Levitt. His finest, most heart-breaking scene is when he's visiting his parents while getting prepped for his surgery. Just as the attendants are about to wheel him into the operating room, Adam seems to experience his moment of crushing realization. This is, for anyone who's had to deal with a traumatic situation, a common and heart-rending occurrence. While I have not had cancer- or any serious disease- I have lost a parent. And, I can tell you there is hardly a more horrible, desperate feeling than when you experience that moment of crushing realization. I watched it happen in most of my siblings during the wake/funeral process. I experienced the feeling myself... the feeling that- fuck, this shit is real...now what?. Gordon-Levitt displays on screen what I felt and saw. That feeling of being absolutely overwhelmed by the moment... it is a superb scene carried out by an incredible actor giving a subtly amazing performance. And it is every bit, in a nutshell, what this movie is all about.
Grade: A+
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