50/50 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

50/50 Blu-ray Movie Review

Chances of adoring this movie: 100/100.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 11, 2012

If you were a casino game you’d have the best odds!

It's a funny thing, life. So often it demonstrates this uncanny ability to even out, countering the bad with something equally, or more, good. Those things which are bad and those things which are good are different for different people to be sure, but there's an unmistakable balance to the way things work, an unseen natural order that makes life a little easier to live even when everything -- even one's very life -- lies on the line, its future in the hands of the history that's allowed for the arrival to the present, the collection of experiences and knowledge and feelings and sympathies that all work together to make the very worst moment a bit more tolerable and a whole lot more hopeful. That's the story of 50/50, a masterful film that's as funny as it is moving, a story of a single physical life on the decline but at the same time a multitude of spiritual lives on the rise through understanding, fellowship, trust, and faith. It's a movie that looks at both sides of the coin, the world's inescapable cruelties but also the goodness it offers to counter the bad, be it family, friends, or something as simple as a warm and caring touch. It's exactly the kind of movie the world needs, one everyone needs to see for its portrayal of the good and the bad and the power of those positives to conquer the battle against the bad, because win or lose, 50/50 shows that the real strength comes in the effort and the outlook, the end result a bonus of a much greater, more important journey.

Chemo with friends.

Mariners fan and Seattle-area radio station employee Adam Lerner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) lives a pretty good life. He's young, stays in shape, enjoys the company of his best friend Kyle (Seth Rogan), and has a good-looking girlfriend in Rachael (Bryce Dallas Howard). All that's slowing him down is some back pain, and when he finally has it checked out, he's presented with a shocking diagnosis: he has a rare form of spinal cancer with but a fifty percent chance of survival, which shrinks to ten percent with metastasis. It's the kind of thing that any healthy young man could never expect, but his odds of survival aren't awful. Rachael says she'll stay with him; Kyle's got his back; and his mom (Anjelica Huston), already caring for her Alzheimer's-stricken husband (Serge Houde), is determined to move in with him, help him out with his daily routine, and take him to the hospital -- Adam doesn't drive -- but Adam will have none of it. He does agree to counseling where he meets a wet-behind-the-ears psychiatrist named Katherine (Anna Kendrick), and he develops a friendship with and gets good advice from a pair of older chemo patients, Mitch and Alan (Matt Frewer and Philip Baker Hall). But through it all, Adam comes to see his life and the people around him in a different light, finding out who is real friends and family are and who's in this with him for the long haul, for whatever life has in store for a man who comes to realize that he's got too much to live for to die so young.

50/50 splits up its humor and its heartfelt drama very well. The picture never overwhelms; even its tearjerking final act offers just enough humor to help bring some order and balance to the dire realities that come to dominate Adam's life. Indeed, 50/50 is no pitty party. It's a tale of the triumph of the spirit, of the power of friendship, of the bonds of family. But nothing in the movie is perfect, and it's not painted as such. It deals in realities rather than fairy tales, but in doing so it goes to show that there might be a little bit of fairy tale goodness floating about, anyway, even if it doesn't come in the form of pixie dust and little flying inches-tall girls. The movie shows the best and worst of people and life, and as the worst takes hold, it's up to the characters to decide if they're going to wallow in growing misery or use the negativity to reinforce the positives that have helped shape strong friendships and loving families, long-lived bonds that may sometimes bend or grow distant but certainly never break. The film is one of the most engaging in recent memory and one of the most honest ever made. It exudes a quiet confidence in its abilities and its story, but the real story here lies in the people who populate it, people who from the very outset become like lifelong friends and family, giving the viewer a very real, very immediate stake in the movie and its outcome.

Indeed, audiences will find in 50/50 something that few films ever offer, and that's an immediate bond between characters and viewers that greatly enhances the drama and offers them a unique perspective that almost literally puts them in the hospital with Adam and his chemo buddies, in the office with Dr. McKay, and in those best-friend outings with Kyle. The movie embraces the viewer and never lets go; it's like a warm and caring family, and every character has something positive to offer on the journey that sees Adam through his diagnosis, treatment, and difficult surgery, all the while going with the ebbs and flows of Adam's life as it's shaped and reshaped but at the same time made more solid by the events that carry him through to whatever fate may await him. All are wonderful in the movie, but Seth Rogen is the glue that holds it together. The film's best character and daresay one of the finest ever seen on film, his Kyle is the very definition of a strong and loving friend. He is both the audience and the movie's center, the man who must come to understand and conform to the new realities of his friendship with Adam while trying not to look like he's anyone but who he's always been, the guy who puts on a quirky, sometimes obtuse, and self-centered front but whose heart is truly as big as his mouth and his soul as good any man's may be. If only everyone could be so lucky to have a Kyle in their life, to share the good times with and help them through the bad.

That's the real key here. 50/50 doesn't just tell a story, it lives a story. It's perfect because of its characters' imperfections, either physically or emotionally. Kyle's inward care and commitment, Katherine's emotional connection, Adam's mother's unflinching love, all in their sum total make them better people but also are the keys to Adam's battle with himself and his cancer, a cancer that's the last thing that is the movie's true focal point, instead serving merely as a device to showcase the importance of love, understanding, compassion, and friendship and how shaping them in the good makes them only stronger in the bad. Adam turns out to be a pretty enviable character, in that he's surrounded by people who genuinely and unquestionably love. Sometimes it takes something as terrible as cancer -- or any of the seemingly innumerable negatives that intrude into people's lives on a daily basis -- to make that obvious, to show that in the bad there's just as much good, so long as people are willing to see it, to embrace the humanity and live a life of hope, goodwill, and positive thinking rather than simply giving into what can easily be mistaken for the inevitable.

50/50 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

It's really amazing that, years into Blu-ray's lifespan, a high definition transfer can still engender a sense of awe at the format's capabilities. 50/50's 1080p image is one of those transfers. This is a beautifully natural, altogether dazzling image. The Blu-ray looks like a brand-new theatrical print, sporting amazing detail and balanced colors, all accentuated by superb clarity and light grain retention. The exterior Seattle locations are wonderful, even under overcast skies. Pavement and building façades are marvelous, enjoying tremendously natural and filmic texturing. Inside, the pillows, blanket, and couch as seen in Dr. McKay's office look as tactile and real as film allows. Faces and clothing, of course, are realistically depicted in every shot. Colors are wonderfully balanced, too. The teal and orange and light wooden shades around the radio station office, for example, are fantastic, and the palette never suffers under any lighting condition, remaining true and never going too warm or too dim. Flesh tones are natural, but the transfer's only blemish comes in blacks that sometimes go a bit too dark and murky. Otherwise, this one will leave even seasoned Blu-ray fans in amazement at just how good it looks. Summit is probably Blu-ray's best studio that few ever bring into the discussion. All of their new releases sparkle, and this is a crown jewel.

50/50 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

50/50 features a fine DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. This excellent audio presentation yields wonderful clarity, spacing, and body in its opening music, traits which remain throughout, even in the floating, airy new age therapy music heard in chapter four that's one of the most lifelike moments a Blu-ray soundtrack has ever delivered. There's an almost uncanny realism to much of the track, even in something as simple as a honking car horn. Atmospherics are highly effective, whether in the radio station office or out on Seattle street level. The piercing, high-pitched sound that momentarily dominates the track when Adam first receives his diagnosis plays with amazing clarity and accuracy. Dialogue, the track's primary element, enjoys pinpoint clarity, remains center-focused, and is always dominant. This might seem like an unassuming track on the surface, but there's much to love about this superb presentation from Summit Entertainment.

50/50 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

50/50 contains a fair assortment of extras, headlined by an audio commentary track and a collection of deleted scenes.

• Audio Commentary: Actor Seth Rogen, Producers Ben Karlin and Evan Goldberg, Writer Will Reiser, and Director Jonathan Levine offer a typical group commentary track that occasionally features participants speaking loudly and over one another, with much laughter along the way. They speak on the picture's origins and Will Reiser's battle with cancer, share various anecdotes both related to the film and otherwise, talk about editing the picture and shooting the head-shaving scene, and plenty more. It's not quite as serious as the movie, but it's a fun track that's humorous and a nice compliment to the 50/50 experience.
• Deleted Scenes (1080p, 6:17): Mom Wants a Third Option, Lentil Nut Loaf, Adam Returns to SPR, Alan Gives Adam His Tie, and Adam Collapses on the Street. Available with optional Jonathan Levine commentary.
• The Story of 50/50 (1080p, 7:54): Commentary track members Evan Goldberg, Jonathan Levine, and Seth Rogen again recount the story behind the movie. Discussions also include the technical work of Jonathan Levine, the work of the film's canine performers, and the crew's real life encounters with cancer.
• Life Inspires Art (1080p, 9:15): The Bar Scene #1, The Bar Scene #2, The Hospital, and The Office.
• Seek and Destroy (1080p, 2:21): Making the "painting destruction" scene.
• BD-Live.

50/50 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

50/50 is just so moving and honest that it really needs to be experienced; words don't do it justice, because it's a movie about emotions and bonds and goodness that exists in the seen and unseen realms alike. It's not a story, it's a life experience, a movie that goes to show that wherever bad may be, wherever life may lead, there's the undying power of love, friendship, and hope that's to be found along every path, with each step, through each diagnosis, people to say "yes" when the world says "no." 50/50 is the most uplifting and honest movie to come along in a long time and something that should be at the top of everyone's "must see" list, a movie that thereafter will shoot to the top of the "never to be forgotten" list. Summit's Blu-ray release of 50/50 isn't overloaded with extras, but it does feature top-tier video and audio. 50/50 earns my highest recommendation.