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50/50 (2011)

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Top Critics

Average Rating: 7.6/10
Reviews Counted: 171
Fresh: 159 | Rotten: 12

A good-hearted film about a difficult topic, 50/50 maneuvers between jokes and drama with surprising finesse.

Average Rating: 7.7/10
Critic Reviews: 40
Fresh: 35 | Rotten: 5

A good-hearted film about a difficult topic, 50/50 maneuvers between jokes and drama with surprising finesse.

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Average Rating: 4.2/5
User Ratings: 54,611

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Movie Info

Inspired by a true story, 50/50 is an original story about friendship, love, survival and finding humor in unlikely places. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen star as best friends whose lives are changed by a cancer diagnosis in this new comedy directed by Jonathan Levine from a script by Will Reiser. 50/50 is the story of a guy's transformative and, yes, sometimes funny journey to health - drawing its emotional core from Will Reiser's own experience with cancer and reminding us that friendship

R, 1 hr. 40 min.

Drama, Comedy

Directed By: Jonathan Levine

Written By: Will Reiser

In Theaters: Sep 30, 2011 Wide

On DVD: Jan 24, 2012

Box Office:$35.0M

Summit Entertainment

Still, it's Gordon-Levitt's choices that continue to impress. Sure, he owned one of the most jaw-dropping sequences in last summer's blockbuster Inception. But the actor remains drawn to profoundly human-scale hurts and quiet triumphs.

September 30, 2011 Full Review Source: Denver Post

| Comments (3)

Lisa Kennedy

Denver Post

Top Critic

Gordon-Levitt is an agreeably undemonstrative actor who plays well opposite the burbly Rogen.

September 30, 2011 Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor

| Comment

Peter Rainer

Christian Science Monitor

Top Critic

Chances are about 90/10 that you'll enjoy 50/50.

September 30, 2011 Full Review Source: Detroit News

| Comments (10)

Tom Long

Detroit News

Top Critic

Scene by scene, 50/50 can be both amusing and moving, with the tightly wound Gordon-Levitt and the boundaryless Rogen forming an oddly complementary pair. But as a whole the movie never quite coheres.

September 30, 2011 Full Review Source: Slate

| Comments (45)

Dana Stevens

Slate

Top Critic

In other hands, Adam might well be hard to take. But as the comedy in 50/50 turns darker, Gordon-Levitt, who's maybe the most natural, least affected actor of his generation, makes prickly plenty engaging.

September 30, 2011 Full Review Source: NPR

| Comment (1)

Bob Mondello

NPR

Top Critic

An everyman tale with plenty of heart and honesty, the serious subject matter is regularly enlivened with jolts of genuine hilarity, some of it in delightfully questionable taste.

September 30, 2011 Full Review Source: Toronto Star

| Comment

Linda Barnard

Toronto Star

Top Critic

Deeply affecting and admirably even-keeled...

February 10, 2012 Full Review Source: LarsenOnFilm

| Comment

Josh Larsen

LarsenOnFilm

Gordon-Levitt turns depression and despair into comedy of the edgiest kind, while making his character all the more sympathetic for his occasional outbursts of anger and aggression.

January 18, 2012 Full Review Source: MovieScope

| Comment

Anton Bitel

MovieScope

Todo est� muy bien observado por el guionista Will Reiser con pinceladas de humor muy efectivo (casi siempre gentileza de Seth Rogen, que hace el mismo personaje de siempre y lo hace b�rbaro) y tambi�n con algunas cuotas de emoci�n esperables.

January 14, 2012 Full Review Source: Uruguay Total

| Comment

Enrique Buchichio

Uruguay Total

This film is thin.

January 3, 2012 Full Review Source: Ebert Presents At The Movies

| Comments (17)

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky

Ebert Presents At The Movies Source: Ebert Presents At The Movies

Will Reiser's emotionally rich script -- which is based on his own battle with cancer -- never hits a wrong note, and he finds the comedy in Adam's life as easily as the drama.

January 3, 2012 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide

| Comment

Perry Seibert

TV Guide's Movie Guide

Dark humor, smart characters and a script with a heart make '50/50' one of the best films of the year. You'll take some emotions with you when you leave the theater.

December 22, 2011 Full Review Source: KWQC-TV (Iowa)

| Comment

Linda Cook

KWQC-TV (Iowa)

[A]n honest, hilarious, laugh-till-you-cry look at how very much it sucks to get very sick as a young person... The characters are all uniquely vivid and unforgettable...

December 7, 2011 Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher

| Comment

MaryAnn Johanson

Flick Filosopher

To those unfortunate enough to have a potentially terminal illness, it could be inspirational.

November 27, 2011 Full Review Source: Daily Mail [UK]

| Comment

Christopher Tookey

Daily Mail [UK]

[A] beautifully played, precisely observed and surprisingly thoughtful buddy movie, which is based on a true story.

November 27, 2011 Full Review Source: Radio Times

| Comment

Damon Wise

Radio Times

It's the performances that really make it work, with Seth Rogen bringing his usual wonderfully loose comic energy to proceedings.

November 27, 2011 Full Review Source: Scotsman

| Comment

Alistair Harkness

Scotsman

The absence of self-pity and sentimentality is something of a change. The women involved, however, are given a rather hard time.

November 27, 2011 Full Review Source: Observer [UK]

| Comment

Philip French

Observer [UK]

This frequently funny and moving film proves humour can be wrung from tricky subjects, providing it's done with sufficient thoughtfulness and wit.

November 25, 2011 Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph

| Comment

Robbie Collin

Daily Telegraph

This film leaves a strange taste in the mouth.

November 25, 2011 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK]

| Comments (17)

Peter Bradshaw

Guardian [UK]

Gordon-Levitt's uptight everyman hero fully earns our sympathy and Kendrick is superb as the rookie therapist, but the film suffers from an overly strong dose of Rogen's crudity and mawkishness, which must surely be reaching its use-by date soon.

November 25, 2011 Full Review Source: Movie Talk

| Comment

Jason Best

Movie Talk Source: Movie Talk

So well-meaning you want to hug it.

November 25, 2011 Full Review Source: Financial Times

| Comment

Nigel Andrews

Financial Times

The picture scores highly for tackling tricky, thought-provoking subject matter and contains some humorous and touching moments.

November 25, 2011 Full Review Source: Daily Express

| Comment

Henry Fitzherbert

Daily Express

A rom-com with brains that - at key moments - feels as sly and sweet as Annie Hall.

November 25, 2011 Full Review Source: This is London

| Comment

Charlotte O'Sullivan

This is London

It's not a major landmark on anybody's r�sum�, but it's nothing to be ashamed of either.

November 24, 2011 Full Review Source: Little White Lies

| Comment

Matt Bochenski

Little White Lies

The Gordon-Levitt-Rogen bromance is one of the most exciting and fun ones in recent comedy history, and the pair have a wonderful natural rift ...

November 23, 2011 Full Review Source: Real.com

| Comment

Lisa Giles-Keddie

Real.com

Seth Rogen might be there to puts bums on seats, but it's Joseph Gordon-Levitt who will keep you watching.

November 23, 2011 Full Review Source: Birmingham Post

| Comment

Graham Young

Birmingham Post

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for 50/50

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Dealing with cancer is something a lot of us has to go through in one way or another - either as a victim or as someone close to a person with the disease. In my family, we have thankfully been spared from any such tragedy, even if there's been a couple of close calls. In this heart-rending portrait of a young man who

May 29, 2011

Mike S

Super Reviewer

Except for a handful of scenes, I can't come to appreciate the efforts here. Be prepared to go back to the eighties. No, no, the movie's not set in the eighties, it's just the story. This sort of execution might have worked for me a decade back. The screenplay is terribly run-of-the-mill. The humor doesn't work and the

February 14, 2012

familiar stranger

Super Reviewer

50/50 Quotes

View All

1. Alan: I'm Alan Lombardo, stage three lymphoma. Pleased to meet you.
2. Mitch: Mitch Barnett, metastatic prostate cancer.
3. Adam: Nice to meet you. Oh, I'm Adam Lerner, schwannoma neurofibrosarcoma.
– Submitted by Jayathra L (46 days ago)
1. Adam: What are you doin' ?
2. Diane: I'm gonna make you some green tea.
3. Adam: Can you just... come back come sit down.
4. Diane: I heard on the 'Today' show that they said it reduces your risk of cancer by 15%
5. Adam: Well.. I've already had cancer... so can you just please come sit down.
– Submitted by Hyejin A (51 days ago)
1. Diane: I'm making you a glass of green tea because I heard on the news that it reduces your chance of getting cancer by 15%
– Submitted by Esther S (55 days ago)
1. Alan: Want a macaroon?
2. Adam: Thanks, but I'm alright.
3. Alan: There's weed in em...
– Submitted by Owen F (2 months ago)
1. Adam: Did I just score your digits?
– Submitted by Dani D (2 months ago)

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