50/50 [Blu-ray]

Director: Jonathan Levine Jonathan Levine

Overview

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.

Product Details

Release Date:	01/24/2012
UPC:	0025192108518
Original Release:	2011
Rating:	R
Source:	SUMMIT INC/LIONSGATE
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:40:00
Sales rank:	25,377

Special Features

Audio commentary with Seth Rogen, director Jonathan Levine, and writer Will Reiser; Deleted scenes; The story of 50/50; Life inspires art ; Seek and destroy

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Joseph Gordon-Levitt	Adam
Seth Rogen	Kyle
Anna Kendrick	Katherine
Bryce Dallas Howard	Rachael
Anjelica Huston	Diane
Serge Houde	Richard
Andrew Airlie	Dr. Ross
Matt Frewer	Mitch
Philip Baker Hall	Alan
Donna Yamamoto	Dr. Walderson
Sugar Lyn Beard	Susan
Sarah Smyth	Jenny
Peter Kelamis	Phil
Jessica Parker Kennedy	Jackie
Daniel Bacon	Dr. Phillips
P. Lynn Johnson	Bernie
Laura Bertram	Claire
Matty Finochio	Ted
Luisa D'Oliveira	Agabelle Loogenburgen
Veena Sood	Nurse Stewart
Jason Vaisvila	Cute Guy With Dreads
Brent Sheppard	Minister
Marie Avgeropoulos	Allison
Adrian McMorran	Bartender,Bartender
Stephanie Belding	Friendly Nurse
Andrea Brooks	Attractive Woman #2
Ryan W. Smith	Joe
Karen Van Blankenstin	Nurse Scott
William 'Bigsleeps' Stewart	George
Bonnie Bollivar	Elderly Female Chemo Patient
Yee Jee Tso	Dr. Lee
Beatrice Ilg	Pretty Girl
Chilton Crane	Mother on the Bus
Amitai Marmorstein	Young Person on the Bus
Lauren A. Miller	Bodie
Will Reiser	Greg
Richard C. Burton	Thom the Patient
Neil Corbett	Hospital Tech
Christopher De Schuster	Art Gallery Patron
Karolina Sabat	Art Gallery Patron
Susan McLellan	Bar Girl
Marlow the Wonderdog	Himself
Michael Giacchino	Composer
Karen van Blankenstein	Nurse Scott
D.C. Douglas	Voices

Technical Credits

Will Reiser

Jonathan Levine	Director
Will Reiser	Screenwriter,Executive Producer
Evan Goldberg	Producer
Ben Karlin	Producer
Seth Rogen	Producer
Nathan Kahane	Executive Producer,Producer
Francine Maisler	Casting
Scott Ateah	Stunts
Stephanie Rossel	Script Supervisor
Shane Connelly	Sound Mixer,Sound Effects
David Esparza	Sound Effects
Kyle Gray	Special Effects
Wade Barnett	Sound Effects
Tendo Nagenda	Producer
Ariel Shaffir	Producer
Kyle Hunter	Producer

Editorial Reviews

The majority of actors who have a television hit early on fail to parlay that success into a substantial film career once the show leaves the air. Sure, there are exceptions -- Bruce Willis and Johnny Depp come to mind -- but few actors have worked as hard to redefine their public perceptions as Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He shed his image as the youngest member of 3rd Rock From the Sun by consistently working with interesting writers and directors -- Spike Lee, Gregg Araki, Rian Johnson, Christopher Nolan -- and fearlessly tackling challenging roles in films as diverse as Hesher and (500) Days of Summer. With director Jonathan Levine's poignant and funny 50/50, Gordon-Levitt should finally get the awards buzz he richly deserves. He plays Adam, a 27-year-old public-radio employee who discovers he has cancer. As his best friend Kyle (Seth Rogen) tries to help him cope, 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 the various relationships in his life, he begins seeing a young counselor (Anna Kendrick), who might prove to be just as helpful personally as professionally. Gordon-Levitt does something few actors ever manage in 50/50 -- he makes a nice, normal guy fascinating. By all accounts, Adam is a perfectly decent human being, aside from some mommy issues and a penchant for falling for questionable women. While his medical situation is dramatic, it's something millions of others have had to face. It's a vivid portrayal of a young man who slowly faces his own mortality, and as Adam's stoic facade slowly erodes, he lashes out at his friends, his family, and himself, leading to a powerhouse scene with his mother just before he's wheeled into surgery. Yet even during the most-powerful moment in the entire movie -- the kind of scene that gets shown during the listing of the nominees on awards shows -- Gordon-Levitt doesn't overplay it at all. In every scene, he earns our empathy. As great as he is, he doesn't do it all by himself. Will Reiser's emotionally rich script -- which is based on his own battle with cancer -- never hits a wrong note, and he finds the comedy in Adam's life as easily as the drama. There are a couple of lovely scenes with Matt Frewer and Philip Baker Hall as a pair of older patients with whom Adam shares chemotherapy sessions, and Rogen modulates his overpowering charisma just enough to let us know that all his motormouthed energy is his character's own way of dealing with his friend's troubles. Thirty years ago, Terms of Endearment pretty much defined how to do this kind of tonally challenging movie, presenting characters able to laugh through their tears while dealing with a life-threatening illness. By borrowing that template without slavishly copying it, and thanks to a pitch-perfect lead performance by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, 50/50 deserves to be compared with that Oscar-winning classic.