50/50

We watched 50/50 on Friday night, our start-of-weekend treat! The Big C has proven that you can make a comedy about cancer. 50/50 uses a similar mix of comedy and pathos. Adam is a 27-year-old nice guy, too nice, a bit boring, tidy, in a relationship that's run its course, who discovers he's got a malignant tumor, for which the odds are 50/50. His painter girlfriend says she will look after him, but you can see the fear in her eyes. She wants out, but won't admit it. She brings him a dog, and you know that he will end up with the dog and no girlfriend! Adam's mother makes a big drama about it all, but then again, Adam's father has Alzheimer's and it can't be too easy for her. Kyle, Adam's friend and colleague, is constantly on the lookout for new ways to pick up women, whether it's Adam's prescription hash, his dog (a lovely placid lurcher with big sad eyes), or books about cancer, he is most imaginative with ways to lure women. But he's also the best friend possible. He's there when Adam needs him, he helps him shave his head at the start of chemotherapy, he brings him out to clubs and encourages him in his attempts to pick up a girl. In the meantime, Adam goes to a therapist, but he is her third patient and she's got a lot to learn.

None of this sounds very funny. But, trust me, it is. It's a lovely movie, funny and sad. Most of all, it's the story of a friendship that not even bad odds can break.