Jonathan Levine & Seth Rogen's Cancer Comedy 50/50 Coming September 30th

By Ben Szwediuk /

The crass expression €œas funny as cancer€ could almost have been invented for Seth Rogen. The ball of geeky, self-aware but ultimately facile college humour whose work has nudged the periphery of €œfair€, only to descend into the pits of plain awful. As such, 2011 has already been fairly indicative; having dragged Michel Gondry down to his level with 3D abomination The Green Hornet- which must have had Bruce Lee performing spinning kicks in his grave- only to salvage a modicum of respect with his faux-American Dad performance as the alien in Paul. However, while Gondry- pained at his ignominies- is now pursuing high-brow adaptations and documentaries about political philosophers, Rogen has decided to assault the notion of taste entirely with so-called €œcancer comedy,€ 50/50 (formely titled "I'm With Cancer" and "Live With It"). Now officially to be released in cinemas by Summit on September 30th, 50/50 is about a twenty-something diagnosed with cancer who decides to fight the disease with humour. Logically, one would assume, this wouldn€™t have gone to well, but the screenwriter, Will Reiser, is said to have gone through a similar experience in his real life. I think it is reasonable to assume that he didn€™t employ Seth Rogan in this metaphysical tussle or this would be a biopic rather than a biography; but the story has certain resonances with The Bucket List, the concept of which was similairly unfunny, and met with critical nauseousness, in spite of a gifted and earnest cast. Rogan, who also produces, is set to play the friend of the lead character depicted by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and features a large host of industry names including Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard and Angelica Houston. The Wackness director Jonathan Levine helms a large collaborative production team has been assembled including Mandate Pictures, composer Michael Giacchino,Evan Goldberg and- of course- Rogen himself. Filming is set to be wrapped up at the end of March so expect Rogen to feature in a tolerable film sometime before its release, once again drawing in his career from the ever looming precipice of his own folly.