Joseph Gordon-Levitt And Seth Rogen Redefined The Sentimental Buddy Comedy With ‘50/50’

There is a beautiful new addition to Amazon Prime Video this month in the form of the 2011 film 50/50. If you have yet to take in the Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen “cancer comedy”, go ahead and get to it ASAP.

Gordon-Levitt is Adam, a guy in his late 20’s, who is diagnosed with spinal cancer, and Rogen serves as his best pal, Kyle. The friendship morphs from Kyle teasing Adam about using his girlfriend’s body wash and smelling like jam, discussing various sex positions, and getting generally annoyed with each other, to an incredibly sweet and supportive relationship as they navigate the health scare together. Does Kyle use Adam’s cancer to help pick up ladies for both of them? Yes, of course he does. He also compares Adam’s chances of survival (50%, hence the title) to casino games and brings up celebrities that have also had cancer. Maybe not the standard go-to topics for reassuring your sick friend, but for these two, it serves a purpose.

Kyle steps up as Adam’s biggest cheerleader, even when that support takes many different forms. After Adam’s girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard) cheats, Kyle is more than excited to break the news and be there for his newly-single buddy: helping him shave his head, admitting when his new haircut looks weird, and generally not letting the life-changing diagnosis affect their social life. While Adam enters into a flirtation with his therapist (Anna Kendrick in one of her most endearing roles to date), it’s the relationship between Adam and Kyle that remains the true heart of the movie.

In a script from Will Reiser (yes, son of Paul) based on his own experiences, and directed by Jonathan Levine, the sentimentality purely sits in the friendship between the two guys. Kyle remains a constant for Adam, he treats him the same and he shows up, when he’s needed and when he’s not. Gordon-Levitt is the solid actor we can always depend on him to be, especially with such rich, emotional material, and Rogen is not unrecognizable here. That deep laugh, the profanities, the talk of pubes and sex and weed, they’re all there. But as Kyle, he helps to bring a new dimension to the buddy comedy element of this film. Yes, a funny film about cancer. In fact, the ratio of laughs to tears is just about 50/50.

Kyle’s a guy that’s not afraid to exclaim, “I’m gonna throw up,” and “Oh it’s gross,” and “I’m afraid to touch you,” at various points of the process his friend is going through. He keeps their friendship normal and as light as possible, while still maintaining a deep caring and concern. In fact, Rogen’s performance here is not only great, but helped to shape future on-screen bromances, including reteaming with Gordon-Levitt (and Levine) for 2015’s The Night Before, as well as the Neighbors films and his frequent collaborations, often focused around friendship, with James Franco, including This Is The End, The Interview, and 2017’s The Disaster Artist. Part of this is also owed to Judd Apatow who set the standard of including a bit more feeling between guy friends in his films. But 50/50 really mastered the art of balancing the man stuff with the emotional stuff — it’s felt there the whole time without ever having to go sappy or cheesy.

50/50 is really a touching story told with brilliant comedic flourishes and important performances from its leads. The film remains moving and heartwarming throughout, and proved a) that a cancer comedy can actually be a thing and b) allowing the male leads to show deep concern and care for each other only makes the comedy more rewarding, a lesson that has surely continued to inspire and encourage more films to do the same.

Where to watch 50/50