On Friday, moviegoers got their first chance to see Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen in cancer comedy, 50/50, in theaters.
In the film, Gordon-Levitt plays Adam, who finds out that he has been diagnosed with cancer, but instead of wallowing in self-pity and going dark, he and his best friend, Kyle (Rogen), attempt to look at the lighter side of things.
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The Hollywood Reporter‘s Kirk Honeycutt wrote that screenwriter Will Reiser, whose life this movie is loosely based on, “took the Norman Cousins approach of laughing illness into submission.” Honeycutt adds, “Gordon-Levitt is such a fine actor that, with what amounts to a completely reactive character, he still scores big with easy-to-identify-with emotions that pitch him increasingly into a panic mode as the illness won’t loosen its grip.”
Early Saturday, moviegoers had a similar reaction to 50/50, with many of them praising the film for the emotional realities that faced the characters in the film.
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“50/50 expertly combines comedy with a morose subject; its characters feel like authentic, imperfect people just dealing with life and death,” wrote John Brady Hamilton.
In fact, several viewers admitted to bawling in the movie theater several times during the movie. “50/50 will make you #bawlsohard,” wrote Eric Sun. Another, Marcus Avila, said, “Chill night, 50/50 almost made me cry, I’ll admit it.” Chris Ankney declared, “Oh jeeze. I loved 50/50 – cried six times. #atleast #probablymore.”
Timothy D. Minneci gave the movie a thumbs up, saying, “I don’t cry at movies, but if I did, this would have been the first time since The Notebook. But I don’t.”
Another moviegoer, going by the Twitter handle @NewSheen, urged everyone to go see the film. “The movie 50/50 was really good. I HIGHLY recommend it. GO. WATCH IT. GOOO,” they wrote.
Rupinder Gill agreed, saying, “50/50 is pretty great, if you ask me, or in in this case, if you haven’t.”
Ethan Holbrook offered a unique analysis of the dramedy, writing, “50/50 was exactly like Jaws if Jaws was about a guy who gets cancer and there was no shark.”
Though most of the reactions from moviegoers were positive, there was a slew of people admitting that they would like to go see the movie this weekend.
