50/50: A Jonathan Levine Film

50/50 is the new film by director Jonathan Levine (The Wackness). Starring are Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Adam, Seth Rogen as his friend Kyle, Anjelica Huston as Adam's Mom, Anna Kendrick as therapist Katherine and Bryce Dallas Howard as his girlfriend Rachael.

Adam is a young radio writer who suddenly gets a rare type of cancer. His life torn apart but with the help of Kyle, Katherine and his family, his journey becomes one of self-discovery and acceptance.

The film goes back and forth between comedy and drama. Joseph Gordon-Levitt makes an outstanding performance that is really Academy award nominee material. Adam is one of those characters that you feel happy for them when things are getting better and very sad when things go bad. Seth Rogen does the same funnyman character we are accustomed to see and Anna Kendrick's character brings up the feelgood elements of falling in love and sexual tension with the main character.

It is all based of a true story. The script being penned by real-life "Adam", Will Reiser. He got cancer while working as a writer for HBO's Da Ali G show and his best buddy at that time was actually Seth Rogen, who plays the friend in the movie.

Worth seeing if you are into switching emotions in a limited time period. Avoid it if you hate sad movies or Seth Rogen type comedy.

7.5 of 10 stars.

Funny People by Judd Apatow

The third film by comedy writer/director, Judd Apatow, is named Funny People. Starring are Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman, Eric Bana and Leslie Mann. The story of the comedian, George Simmons (Sandler), who after being diagnosed with a terminal illness decides to hire up-coming comedian, Ira Wright (Rogen), as his personal assistant and ghost writer. Both of them have failing careers, Wright's roommates Leo Koening (Hill) and Mark Taylor Jackson (Schwartzman) have better gigs than him and Simmons lives a lonely superficial life while still loving his ex-fiancee Laura (Mann), now married to aussie business man Clarke (Bana) and with two girls (both played by the real-life daughters of Apatow and Mann; Maude and Iris Apatow).

Apatow's proves himself again as a comedy genius. Original stories with an actual entertaining plot to it. Mixing romance and drama with those jokes for laughing-out-loud. Sandler and Rogen complement each other very well on-screen. Sandler's unforced jokes with a serious face makes jokes funnier and Rogen's witty punchlines are off-the-hook. Overall great acting by the ensemble cast and great cameos by rappers RZA and Eminem, and comedians Paul Raiser, Sarah Silverman, Andy Dick and Ray Romano. Good soundtrack, real video footage from Sandler's beginnings, fake movies made just for the film , pop-culture references and unconventional storytelling makes this film, Apatow's best effort yet. If you wanna laugh your lungs out, run to the big screen right now.