Two Word DVD Review - 50/50

Here are your two words:

Not funny.

Okay, it's a cancer movie.  Who expects it to BE funny, right?
Well, this movie "from the guys who brought you SUPERBAD" was marketed as a comedy. 

Let me read the cover to you...

"a laugh-out-loud comedy." - Graham Fuller, Vanity Fair

Furthermore, the synopsis on the back reads:
"Inspired by a true story, 50/50 is an honest yet hysterically funny account of a young man's journey toward healing."

Plus, in every interview, Seth Rogan talked about how they didn't want to write a sad cancer movie.  They wanted it to be funny.
Yeah?
Well, this was as funny as "Funny People" with Adam Sandler... which wasn't funny either.

Parts of it were funny.
But neither movie was anything close to a comedy.

Unless...
... your idea of comedy is throwing in a best buddy who does nothing but talk about getting laid and shaving his private parts. 
Oh.  What a hoot.

Seth Rogan's character is as funny as a steaming pile of dog poop.  Now, in the right context, dog poop can be pretty darned funny. 
But, it's still a steaming pile of poop.
In the first few minutes of the movie, Seth Rogan's character does the verbal equivalent of a dog squatting in your yard.  This is our introduction to the entire movie.  And if that's Seth Rogan's idea of comedy, then I've seen every Seth Rogan movie I'll ever need to see.

Maybe 50/50 is a dude's cancer comedy movie.
Let's go with that.

That being said, I enjoyed 50/50 very much.
I enjoyed it to the point that I got annoyed by my family members passing through my viewing area frequently to ask, "Did anything funny happen yet?"  (And the answer was always, "No.")
I really liked Joseph Gordon-Levitt. (I wish Heath Ledger was still alive so the two of them could play brothers someday.)  He had a stunned you-gotta-be-kidding-me look that spoke volumes. I imagined I also would wear exactly that expression throughout the same experiences.  I liked his character.

I thought of Lily a lot.

My favorite parts of the movie were the ones with Bryce Dallas Howard in them.  Mostly the parts where the Gordon-Levitt and Rogan characters told her off. 
Those parts were satisfying.  And, oddly enough, funny.

So, watch 50/50 if you want to see a good quality cancer movie.
But don't touch it if you want a comedy. 

Because it's not.
And I think that wouldn't have bothered me so much if they hadn't promised me it would be.