50/50
Summit Entertainment | Release Date: September 30, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
72
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 42 Critic Reviews
Positive:
33
Mixed:
8
Negative:
1
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
USA TodayClaudia PuigSep 29, 2011
Every performance in the film is flawless. Read full review
100
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallSep 28, 2011
It's irreverent about cancer and that could be inspirational. And it's surely one of the most enjoyable movies I've seen all year. Read full review
100
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzSep 28, 2011
50/50 is a tremendous movie. It's also a really funny one, which doesn't mean it won't make you cry. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesSep 29, 2011
Mostly it's just terribly funny and sad and beautifully acted and terrifically feel-good for being, you know, a cancer comedy. Read full review
88
Washington PostAnn HornadaySep 29, 2011
Considering that any one of those elements could have scuttled its fragile mix of drama, comedy and life-and-death stakes, 50/50 beats the odds with modest, utterly winning ease. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversSep 29, 2011
A movie handled with this kind of care is a rare gift. Refusing to hide from pain or bow to it, 50/50 makes its own rules. It'll get to you. Read full review
88
Miami HeraldConnie OgleSep 29, 2011
50/50 is crude and funny, and it demands that you laugh. And you will. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertSep 28, 2011
Like another recent feel-good film about the disease, Gus Van Sant's "Restless," it creates a comforting myth. That's one of the things movies are good for. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenSep 14, 2011
Even hardened cynics will embrace the cliché – yep, you will laugh, you will cry. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianMarc MohanSep 29, 2011
Thanks to a slew of engaging performances and a script that finds the sweet spot between crass and curdled, it's a winner. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumSep 28, 2011
The result is a duet of outstanding loveliness between Kendrick and Gordon-Levitt, also an actor of nuanced control. Read full review
80
EmpireAdam SmithNov 21, 2011
Whether you're after a comedy-drama about cancer or a Rogen laugh-fest with added heart, this does a remarkable job of balancing the odds. And the laughter/tears split? Call it 70/30. Read full review
80
NPRBob MondelloSep 30, 2011
As the comedy in 50/50 turns darker, Gordon-Levitt, who's maybe the most natural, least affected actor of his generation, makes prickly plenty engaging. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierSep 29, 2011
50/50 pulls no punches in its depiction of living day-to-day with illness. There's pain and fear, no question. But this dramatic comedy is also warm, honest and, most especially, funny. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJ.R. JonesSep 29, 2011
Like many other comedies about serious matters, 50/50 grows more dramatic in its second half. What really impressed me, though, was how easily Reiser could pivot back to comedy at a moment's notice without seeming cheap. Read full review
75
New York PostLou LumenickSep 30, 2011
It succeeds mostly thanks to stellar work by the wonderful Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who capably handles the dramatic heavy lifting, and Seth Rogen, who delivers big laughs as his raunchy bud. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsSep 29, 2011
This affable comedy is a healthy alternative to tearjerkers. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSep 29, 2011
Just as essential is Seth Rogen, as Adam's best friend. Rogen isn't even 30 yet, but he is already an important actor - not just because he's popular but because he best embodies this particular comic moment. Read full review
75
MovielineStephanie ZacharekSep 29, 2011
The picture could be so much better than it is, and yet it's also the kind of movie that makes you want to grade on the curve, adding extra points for good intentions. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie RickeySep 29, 2011
It's half hilarious, half serious; all poignant. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsSep 29, 2011
Some of it's schematic and on the nose. But the grace notes are what make 50/50 better than simply "good enough." Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanSep 29, 2011
The filmmakers do everything they can to balance levity and leavening. The subject says "drama," and the three supporting women deliver well-shaded, understated performances. (Howard shows us how weakness can be just as destructive as malice.) Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubScott TobiasSep 28, 2011
Ideally cast as Reiser's stand-in, Joseph Gordon-Levitt digs into a character role that also gives him a chance to show off the comedic chops he developed during his years on "3rd Rock From The Sun." Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliSep 28, 2011
There is a wealth of authenticity in the feel of the movie, as if Levine and/or his writer have endured some of this stuff. Read full review
75
Orlando SentinelRoger MooreSep 28, 2011
Odds are you'll find something of substance, a few life lessons in between the laughs in 50/50. Read full review
70
SalonMary Elizabeth WilliamsOct 1, 2011
What ensues is "Beaches" meets "Pineapple Express." Which, I've got to tell you, is pretty much what living with cancer is like. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranSep 29, 2011
As a comedy about a young man with cancer, it needs to be serious enough to be real as well as light enough to be funny. Though it falls off the wagon at times, it maintains its balance remarkably well. Read full review
70
The New YorkerDavid DenbySep 26, 2011
Buoyant and observant, 50/50 is a small winner; the director, Jonathan Levine ("The Wackness"), has a great touch, mordant but light-handed. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinSep 26, 2011
The movie belongs to Gordon-­Levitt and Anna Kendrick as his painfully green therapist. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttSep 14, 2011
Reiser has written his characters with an indelible sweetness and vulnerability, which allows the cast to deliver performances with some depth. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerSep 30, 2011
The film's predictability dampens its best parts. Having decided to make a movie about a dreaded subject, the filmmakers too often retreat into the comfort zone of easy assurances and flip quips. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrSep 29, 2011
Kendrick gives a truly bad performance here - she's a self-conscious actress playing a self-conscious person and getting her signals all mixed up - and it's unclear whether she has been hung out to dry by her director or if it's just that the character makes no sense whatsoever. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundSep 27, 2011
The movie is far more successful in its execution of the young-man-meets-mortality element, warranting its existence by bringing some well-considered verisimilitude to what feels like rare movie territory. Read full review
60
SlateDana StevensSep 30, 2011
Scene by scene, 50/50 can be both amusing and moving, with the tightly wound Gordon-Levitt and the boundaryless Rogen forming an oddly complementary pair. But as a whole the movie never quite coheres, seeming to skitter away at the last minute from both full-body laughter and full-body sobs. Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternSep 29, 2011
The best parts are the in-between ones, neither laugh-out-loud funny nor overtly heart-wrenching. Read full review
60
Village VoiceDan KoisSep 27, 2011
Although it veers maudlin in its final act - 50/50 mostly succeeds as a movie about a young man fighting cancer that doesn't give in to sap or sentiment. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfSep 27, 2011
The story is an autobiographical one from screenwriter Will Reiser's own ordeal; you smile with the thought that he had such women in his life, tough yet supportive, giving him the license to be funny again. Read full review
60
VarietyJustin ChangSep 14, 2011
Will Reiser's semiautobiographical script initially prescribes too artificial a story treatment for its characters but is rescued by a genial, low-key vibe that builds in sensitivity and emotion up through the final reels. Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazineDavid EhrlichSep 14, 2011
A soft and sweet cancer drama that hits with the force of an ill-timed hug. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla DargisSep 29, 2011
A feel-good and slightly bad comedy-drama about a young man's fight against cancer, aims to put a tear in your eye and a sob in your throat, if not for long. Read full review
50
TimeRichard CorlissSep 29, 2011
All these roles could have been found at a garage sale of comedy stereotypes. To the extent that 50/50 works, it is because of Gordon-Levitt, one of my favorite actors. Read full review
25
ObserverRex ReedSep 28, 2011
Artificial, irresponsible, filthy and forgettable, it knocks itself cross-eyed trying to make you roar with laughter at chemotherapy, with the nauseating Seth Rogen milking most of the yuks. But a stoner comedy about cancer? I don't think so. Read full review
More From This Movie

72 Critic Reviews

8.4 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL