Grade: A

The number-one thing I demand from a movie experience is three-dimensional characters that allow me to identify with their emotions and motivations.

With a balanced script by Will Reiser that seamlessly weaves jokes with serious contemplation about life and death, as well as solid direction by Jonathan Levine, the stellar cast of “50/50” takes the audience on one man’s journey to beat cancer and the effects it has on those around him.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt (“500 Days of Summer,” “Inception”) is Adam Lerner, a 27-year-old radio scriptwriter who lives a healthy lifestyle with his live-in girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard) and best friend Kyle (Seth Rogen), only to have it turned upside down by a diagnosis of spinal cancer.

When the movie begins, we catch Adam taking a morning jog through the city to the sound of music from his iPod, which stops when he waits anxiously at a crosswalk, and then picks right back up when he resumes running.

Editing techniques like this place us inside Adam’s head, which intensify when he receives his diagnosis, and all of the sound drowns out except for a ringing in his ears. A notable highlight of the movie comes when he is walking down the hospital hallway after taking medicinal marijuana, grinning and giggling incessantly at the most inappropriate things as the camera lens goes in and out of focus.

This is immediately contrasted when Adam wakes up in his bed and vomits from his chemotherapy treatments, beginning in earnest the long, painful toll the disease takes on his body. The juxtaposition of these scenes contributes to the balance of humor and drama in the film.

This skilled technique would not be nearly as powerful without a capable cast, and Gordon-Levitt shines as the put-upon Adam, combining a sense of stoicism with a touch of fear that gradually increases as the movie progresses. All the while, he is able to crack deadpan jokes as his life goes on with the people around him, conveying much of his emotion with his facial expressions. These can range from a thoughtful, pensive stare to a goofy, fun-loving grin.

Rogen gives a terrific performance as Adam’s crude, loud-mouthed best friend who struggles to keep his buddy’s (as well as his own) spirits up. Rogen’s performance is fueled in part by his real-life experience with his friend Will Reiser, who conquered cancer and was encouraged in part by Rogen to write this movie.

Anna Kendrick (“Up In the Air”) displays her charm as a psychologist-in-training who helps Adam to put the disease as well as his relationships in perspective. Kendrick is simultaneously in control and vulnerable as Adam also helps the rookie psychologist learn about dealing with patients as well as her own relationships.

The film also effectively deals with the relationship between Adam and his overprotective mother (Anjelica Huston), who is understandably weathered as she takes care of Adam’s father Richard (Serge Houde), whose Alzheimer’s Disease has rendered him nearly incapable of remembering his son. Bryce Dallas Howard also does a good job as Adam’s girlfriend who is tasked with taking care of him, and she drops subtle hints that she understandably may not be up to the task.

Philip Baker Hall (“Boogie Nights”) and Matt Frewer (“Watchmen”) portray Adam’s fellow chemotherapy patients, and Adam and Kyle develop a friendship with them in spite of their great age difference, providing two of the best supporting roles in my recent memory with their acceptance of the disease allowing them to carry on meaningful family relationships.

While the film does have a few predictable plot lines, I have to say I enjoyed the direction the story moved in, because it provides a welcome contrast to 2009’s “Funny People.” While I enjoyed that movie, the cancer was merely a plot point to illustrate how miserable the main character was to everyone around him.

This film shows us a nice everyman who is forced to re-evaluate priorities as well, but I feel his everyday demeanor made the film more relatable to the audience, which in part was why the humor succeeded more. I know that if I was sick, I wouldn’t mind having a laugh or two as I observed everyday life’s little quirks, possibly for the last time.