317. 50/50 (2011)

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick

Director: Jonathan Levine

Running Time: 100 mins

50/50 is an American film about a man who discovers he has cancer, and he must cope with the consequences of his illness as he fights it all the way to stay alive.

This was fantastic. I really enjoyed this film, because I thought that the way in which it was made as a very entertaining comedy as well as an emotional and enlightening story about cancer was absolutely fascinating to watch.

I thought that it would be quite difficult to make a comedy based on the true story of someone with a potentially terminal illness, as you can’t really laugh at that sort of thing, however the makers of this film got it just right. Of course, it wasn’t laugh-out-loud hilarious, but the comedy was enjoyable and joyful enough to keep the happier side of the story going.

On the side of the more serious storyline, it was just right also. Contrasted with the more comedic start to the film, the final stages of the story were totally engrossing, circling around the final surgery of the man to remove the cancer, and I felt that it was so tense and emotional that it very nearly brought me to tears (and that is not something that I have felt from a movie in a long time…).

Overall, I’ll give this an 8.3 because it was fascinating, funny, entertaining, emotional, original and just a great film to watch.