BEFORE: After those dark political films, the new theme is illnesses, as you can probably tell. I had these in a chain with films about addiction, but then I watched "The Lost Weekend" and "The Man With the Golden Arm", which left them a bit stranded. No worries, I found a way to use them as the bridge to another topic.
Linking from "The Descendants", George Clooney was also in "Up in the Air" with Anna Kendrick.
THE PLOT: Inspired by a true story, a comedy centered on a 27-year-old guy who learns of his cancer diagnosis, and his subsequent struggle to beat the disease.
FOLLOW-UP TO: "Funny People" (Movie #743)
AFTER: This is the lighter side of cancer, to a certain degree. There are plenty of down-sides, like chemotherapy, reactions to chemotherapy, people's reactions to cancer, over-attentive therapists, under-attentive girlfriends. But on the upside, you may find out who your friends really are, and you might get to smoke some weed, and you can play the sympathy card to pick up girls in bars.
Oh, yeah, and then there's the part about actually having cancer. The film follows the lead character through his initial diagnosis, the chemo treatments, and then through more radical treatments. The stages are about what you'd expect, everything from anger to depression to re-prioritizing. If there's any new ground covered here, it's the effect on the relationships with his girlfriend, best friend and parents.
One parent has Alzheimer's, and last night's film had an in-law/grandparent with the same condition. That's an odd coincidence. It seems rare to have a character in a film who's present but incapable of adding to the conversation - it almost makes me wonder why the character was even included. In both cases that person's spouse was taking care of them, and it was used as an explanation as to why that spouse couldn't take care of the lead's medical problems also.
Also starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt (last seen in "Inception"), Seth Rogen (last heard in "Kung Fu Panda 2"), Bryce Dallas Howard (last seen in "Hereafter"), Anjelica Huston, Matt Frewer, Philip Baker Hall (last seen in "The Contender").
RATING: 6 out of 10 macaroons
No comments:
Post a Comment