50/50 - Friends for (Over)Life - DVD

Movie: Adam Lerner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) enjoys his life, which runs in clear order. He's happy with his job, is happily involved with his girlfriend Rachael (Bryce Dallas Howard) despite a rather disappointing sex life, and enjoys spending time with his best buddy Kyle (Seth Rogen). But then he receives shocking news: Adam has a very rare form of cancer, and his chances of survival are only 50 percent. At not even 30, Adam must now undergo severe chemotherapy, and instead of being able to make plans for the future, it's all about bare survival for him. Neither Kyle's attempts to distract his ailing friend nor his sessions with overly nervous young therapist Katherine (Anna Kendrick) really help him cope. But even though his whole life seems to be in ruins, Adam finds the strength to take on the fight against cancer, realizing that it's the things beyond his orderly daily life that make that fight worthwhile.

50/50 - Friends for (Out)Life is based on the true experiences screenwriter Will Reiser, a friend of producer and actor Seth Rogen, had with cancer at a young age. Writing down his battle with the disease was first and foremost a liberating experience for Reiser. The fact that it also resulted in a screenplay that Seth Rogen and co-producer Evan Goldberg immediately saw the potential for a truly great film was actually just a positive side effect. And now viewers in Germany can also benefit from it. Because the way the very difficult subject of cancer is treated here with humor and life-affirming lightness is simply wonderful.

This is just at the beginning still to fear that the film is a typical Seth Rogen comedy, which has more raunchy sayings than depth to offer. But this impression is quickly shattered. For Rogen's somewhat vulgar character not only turns out to be an extremely good and endearing friend to Adam, but his sometimes somewhat outspoken nature is also an uplifting and comforting anchor for him in a time marked by uncertainty and pain.

With some wonderful dialogues and his lovable characters 50/50 - Freunde fürs (Über)leben sometimes makes its audience laugh, then again provides a thick lump in the throat, only to be able to conjure up a smile on the faces of the audience with his charm again a short time later. Joseph Gordon-Lewitt (Inception, (500) Days of Summer) proves once again why he is rightly considered one of the best actors of his generation. His acting is pleasantly restrained and authentic in both the more humorous and dramatic moments. But Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air) as a hypernervous therapist and Anjelica Huston as an overprotective mother also make this small independent film quite great acting cinema.

50/50 - Friends for (Over)Life is a tragicomedy that manages the feat of telling a story in which the threat of death is omnipresent with tremendous joie de vivre. The great cast and sensitive direction by Jonathan Levine (The Wackness, All the Boys love Mandy Lane) make this film a real must-see for all fans of American independent cinema. Absolutely worth seeing!!!

Picture + Sound: Although the contrasts seem to be a bit overdrawn here and there, the overall very clean picture can please with a decent overall sharpness and a coherent color scheme. The sound is overall rather restrained, but dialogue and film music are well matched and sounded well understandable from the speakers. Good.

Extras: The bonus material kicks off with an audio commentary narrated by director Jonathan Levine along with Seth Rogen, Will Reiser, Evan Goldberg and producer Ben Karlin. The very good-humored commentary is not only a very casual conversation between the participants, but also quite an informative insight into the production and real-life background that is worth listening to. Unfortunately, there are no subtitles for this extra, which is a real challenge given the sometimes rather chaotic muddling of the participants. Unfortunately only recommended for those interested with a good command of English.

The remaining extras hold but then optional subtitles ready. Starting off with a short making of (approx. 7 min.) and a look at the scene where Adam and Kyle destroy Rachel's painting. Inspired by Real Life (approx. 9 min.) shows how Will Reiser's real life experiences have been incorporated into the film. Finally, there are five cut scenes (approx. 6 min.) that can be viewed with an optional commentary by the director. A bit lean, but still worth watching!

Conclusion: 50/50 - Friends for (Over)Life manages the balancing act between drama and comedy very well. Based on the true experiences of screenwriter Will Reiser, Jonathan Levine has created a very fun-loving film about impending death that almost always hits the right note. A beautiful piece of American independent cinema, which presents itself on the DVD in good technical implementation and also offers worth seeing additional material. For this there is an absolutely satisfied: Recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp