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" Seth Rogen broaches the funny side of terminal illness in this comedy drama inspired by the real-life ordeal of a friend. He produces, co-writes and plays sidekick to Joseph Gordon-Levitt (500 Days of Summer) as a 27-year-old cancer patient, using brash humour to undercut the tragedy.  But if the Knocked Up star is angling for shock laughs, he needs some new shtick. You&amp;#039;ll feel his buddy&amp;#039;s pain as he&amp;#039;s forced to endure yet another kn*b gag - but that&amp;#039;s as much a testament to Gordon-Levitt&amp;#039;s performance, which he makes tender and funny without seeming to try as hard. Cancer couldn&amp;#039;t happen to a nicer guy than Adam (Gordon-Levitt), especially because he&amp;#039;s so averse to risk. He eats well, jogs every day and wouldn&amp;#039;t dare cross a road until the lights turn red, and he doesn&amp;#039;t take anything for granted, including his dream job in radio and his beautiful artist girlfriend Rachael (Bryce Dallas Howard). When it turns out that his chronic back pain is the result of a malignant tumour, he offers her a way out. She offers to move in with him instead, which bugs his best buddy Kyle (Rogen), as he&amp;#039;s convinced Rachael is bad news. His strenuous attempts to convince Adam that she doesn&amp;#039;t love him border on cruel, given the circumstances. A scene where Kyle gleefully shoves a photo of Rachael and a mystery man in Adam&amp;#039;s ashen face is astoundingly insensitive, much less amusing. Thankfully, a few contrived scenes are balanced out with more intuitive comedy, like at a nightclub where Kyle convinces Adam to use cancer as a pickup line.  But the really sparkling moments happen between Adam and his trainee therapist Katherine (played by Anna Kendrick, who was also brilliantly funny in Up in the Air). Her obvious anxiety about saying the right thing is perfectly pitched against Gordon-Levitt&amp;#039;s deepening numbness. Even so, he can&amp;#039;t help but smile when she makes awkward attempts to bridge the gap. Anjelica Huston strikes another truthful, funny note as Adam&amp;#039;s fussing mother, giving the nurses the sharpened arc of her brow to show her displeasure with the level of care. While everyone in Adam&amp;#039;s life struggles to figure out how to behave around him, Gordon-Levitt finds his own way through the shock, fear and denial with subtle rhythms; increasingly unconcerned with being Mr Nice Guy yet reverting to type in crucial moments, and finally reaching out to the people who he has brushed off in a state of resentment. It&amp;#039;s just that his friendship with Kyle doesn&amp;#039;t resonate quite as profoundly in the grand scheme of things because Rogen is monotone in his performance. If, like Adam, you can get past the endless talk of bl**jobs, there&amp;#039;s plenty else to uplift you.   "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/review/a351001/5050-review/>