Cancer has never been quite so fun! Just kidding. 50/50 is indie to a fault, and not like Jarmusch/John Waters’ low-budget indie. I’m referring to the bright red and yellow corruption of a classic tradition in American film. These cute, little, edgy character dramas, a la Little Miss Sunshine or any Wes Anderson movie, have taken charge of the indie scene by scrambling for studio money and established actors.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Brick, 3rd Rock From the Sun) teams up with college kid comedy savior Seth Rogan to tackle terminal illness with novice director Jonathan Levine. This is Levine’s third film, but the first two managed to slip even farther under the radar than this one. In fact, 50/50 was ripped out of theaters not three weeks after its release date, already reduced to a single show a day long before then.
Probably, few people want to be reminded of the horrors of cancer, especially in someone so young; but after viewing it, the real problems appear. Namely, it isn’t funny: A handful of raunchy lines, few of which sit well, govern the comedy in this picture. For the majority of the film, Levine grapples directly with some painfully realistic family/social relationships. Gordon-Levitt resents his nagging, but helpful mother. He ditches his mouthy girlfriend for his cute therapist. He finally drives a car and screams like a banshee to the night sky. But the drabness is oppressive and the contrived storyline detract from that realism.
Levine has enlisted two older actors-turned-indie revivalists to up the cast value in this, Anjelica Huston (Crimes and Misdemeanors, The Life Aquatic) and PTA’s personal favorite Phillip Baker Hall. Clearly, the acting is top notch, but like many of these early-21st century “indiewood” films, they cover up their lack of substance or impact, spectacle or deft filmmaking with some slightly controversial subject matter. They are one-trick ponies. Pretty shots somehow now trump using a camera to tell a story in conjunction with the script. Point and shoot works great when you’re pointing at something somebody wants to watch.
