By Spence Blazak
Last week, I went to a therapist for the first time. It was horribly depressing. We sifted through things in my memory that I had purposely tried to block out. Then I started to tell her a story about my life. Half way through, she began to cry. A woman with a Ph. D. from Princeton was crying at my life. I found this so sad, and yet…it got my award for "Funniest Thing of the Week." I literally couldn't stop laughing on my walk home. It was such a ridiculously depressing moment, so much so that I couldn't think of any way to react except to laugh until I couldn't breathe.
I've found that this is a very odd and underused type of comedy, but if it is done right, it can be brilliant. It is a realm of black comedy that is both hilarious and poetic simultaneously. Arrested Development tapped the surface, but it was hardly a show dedicated to the depressing. Louie, on the other hand, is an interesting example of a series completely immersed in this brand of comedy, but, while I haven't watched enough of it to get a completely accurate reading on it, I can never seem to find its heart and it comes off as too self-serving.
The Office is the real beacon for sad-com. One of my favorite moments of the American version is when Kevin is waiting all day to here from his doctor if he has cancer, and Michael is mad because it is taking away attention from him on his birthday. He then spends the episode trying to get people to talk to him instead, like a small child. Michael is so needy that it is hilariously pitiful, and also so sad that he can be that self absorbed. One of the most powerful moments of the series because it is more human than anything ever shown on crap like Two and a Half Men.
This is where and why 50/50 thrives. It has something to say not just about friendship and overcoming hardships with a good attitude, but about humanity at its core. This type of comedy cuts to the center of a character faster than most melodramas.
The story is about what you get from the trailer: a young public radio producer in Seattle discovers one day that he has cancer. The plot could easily shift into a self serving, quasi-philosophical piece of dog shit like the The Bucket List, but instead it recognizes its place as a grounded piece of realism. The actual plot is watching Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character go through the 5 stages of loss and grief and interacting with his mother, lover, therapist, and best friend. His character development is riveting.
It holds a tone that is filled with gloom and doom, yet somehow mildly optimistic every once in a while. I wouldn't say its a roller coaster, because it is a lot more subdued and relaxed than that, so I'd compare it to that one time I was operating the Super Himalaya at the Jenkinson's Ride Park of Point Pleasant Beach, N.J., and the belt broke. As my Bulgarian boss yelled at me for not being a machinist (and for being unable to speak Bulgarian), the car would go straight for a little bit before falling a little bit, with that pattern continuing for a few more seconds. Its top speed was that of a briskly walking mother with a stroller. I don't mean to say that it is slow at all, it just…takes its time, which is very refreshing. This story structure works perfectly for the movie.
The performances are all very good, but at the center is Seth Rogen as Levitt's best friend. Will Reiser wrote the movie as a basis of his own life and experience with cancer, and in real life, his best friend was actually Seth Rogen. Thats right. One of the only meta-cinema movies in the decade features Seth Rogen yelling the c-word. While Rogen's character is heavily dramatized, he gets into the character like nothing I've seen in a very long time. Off the top of my head, it reminds me of a scene in Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters where Woody (who always plays himself in his movies) tries to kill himself, and then walks around New York realizing how much he wants to live. Rogen's face tries to be as happy as possible for his friend without being so happy that it pisses him off, and you can see the weight of this stress on his shoulders the whole time. It really is an excellent performance that transcends the movie itself.
All in all, missing this is a crime for anybody who likes movies. It isn't just great, it is almost trailblazing. If The Bucket List is half-a-star, and American Beauty (maybe?…I'm reaching here…) is a four star, then I give 50/50 three and a half stars
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