In 1983, a film chronicling the close relationship between two people while one of them battles cancer was released. The film featured many funny moments but also was able to inject some heartbreaking drama into the narrative, with the protagonist realizing in the face of death the true importance of the people closest to her. The film was Terms of Endearment, which became a major box-office sensation and went on to win five Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
Fast forward 28 years to the release of another film chronicling the relationship between two people while one of them battles cancer. The film features many funny moments but is also able to inject some heartbreaking drama into the narrative with the protagonist realizing in the face of death the true importance of the people closest to him. The film is 50/50, which did not become a major box-office sensation and will not be nominated for any Academy Awards, much less win.
Granted, Terms of Endearment starred two acting legends who both won Oscars for their performances in the film (Shirley MacLaine and Jack Nicholson) and it had the unbeatable scene of a cute kid crying uncontrollably at his mother's bedside as she lay dying, while 50/50 had Seth Rogen and pot-smoking old people. However, I feel that both critics and audiences gave 50/50 a tremendously tough break by not giving it more recognition.
There have been other films that have been underrated this year in one way or another. "Senna," the wonderful documentary about legendary Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna, did not really catch on in this country and received very little awards recognition, but in the UK, the film is nominated for three BAFTAs, including Best British Film, so at least some critics are recognizing its brilliance. "Drive" is a film that was beloved by many critics and moviegoers (myself included), received a ton of press, yet received no recognition during awards season, culminating in Albert Brooks' egregious Oscar snub this morning. "Take Shelter" did not catch on with art-house audiences, never playing in more than 100 screens and grossing just shy of $2 million, nor did it receive any awards-season recognition, but it wound up on many critics' top ten lists at the end of the year, so it cannot be considered completely underrated.
50/50 did really well with critics, scoring 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus being: "A good-hearted film about a difficult topic, 50/50 maneuvers between jokes and drama with surprising finesse." The film, while it did not light the box office on fire, still did relatively well, grossing $34 million from an $8 million budget. It was also nominated for two Golden Globes, best actor for Joseph Gordon-Levitt and best picture-musical or comedy.
However, even with all of this praise, it still feels as though 50/50 has mostly been forgotten, which is a shame considering it is one of the best films of 2011. It features a great Academy-snubbed script from Will Reiser, a real-life cancer survivor whose story this film is based on. It features a great central performance from Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who effortlessly handles both the lighter and darker moments of the narrative with equal panache. The most underrated aspect of this film and its secret weapon is Seth Rogen, Reiser's real-life friend who plays a version of himself and the film and brings a surprising amount of warmth and heart to the story of a young man dealing with the possibility of death. Even in a year where dogs in movies have gotten a ton of love from the press, poor Skeletor the greyhound, Gordon Levitt's loyal companion, has been completely forgotten.
But getting back to Seth Rogen: I believe him to be the main reason this film has not become an awards season staple like it should have. His involvement in the film probably signaled to Academy voters that this film should not be taken seriously because how could a raunchy Seth Rogen comedy actually be an award-worthy film? And since it didn't have the financial success of Bridesmaids (an inferior film), there was no pressure from outside sources to recognize it come awards season. The fact that 50/50 was not nominated in the original screenplay category alongside Bridesmaids should be considered a lowdown dirty shame.
Those who dismiss it as a Seth Rogen vehicle or as "that cancer comedy" however are completely blind to the true nature of the film. Yes, it has some fantastically hysterical moments (including the best Total Recall reference in movie history), but the film never has a false emotional moment (the same cannot be said for the Best Picture frontrunner, The Artist) even though the audience has a pretty good idea what the outcome will be. The amount of emotional investment Reiser and director Jonathan Levine put into these characters allows the audience feel like they experiencing the main character's disease personally without feeling emotionally manipulated. 50/50 had a tremendously high degree of difficulty and pulled it off better than I think most people could have imagined.
Hopefully, as is the case with many great films, 50/50 becomes more appreciated a few years down the road when audiences can look back on the Best Picture nominees for this year's Oscars and ask themselves some of the following questions: "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close? I've never even heard of that! Wait, Tom Hanks was in that...? Was that pile of crap really better than 50/50 or Drive? The Help? That movie that totally glossed over race relations got nominated for Best Picture?!?!?!? God, the Oscars suck!"
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