I hate cancer movies: “A Walk to Remember” made me want to puke and “My Sister’s Keeper” almost put me to sleep. And these two aren’t the only ones: there’s a solid 30 years of reprehensible cancer movies (I’m looking at you, “Beaches”). They give strength to those suffering from a terrible disease, and there’s something to be said for that, but they’re melodramatic, overindulgent. There are often tears for the sake of tears. They feel almost fake. “50/50” though is the opposite of “A Walk to Remember” (and *shudder* “Beaches”). It’s funny and witty and horribly real.

The premise alone should give some indication that it’s awesomely atypical. It’s about Adam Lerner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a twenty-something loser radio DJ/part-time hypochondriac, who has a dopey pothead best friend (Seth Rogen), an overeager artist girlfriend (Bryce Dallas-Howard), and a garrulous, hilariously controlling mother (Angelica Huston). It feels part Judd Apatow buddy flick (Rogen in “Knocked Up”), part 21st century indie film (like Huston in “Royal Tenanbaums”, or Gordon-Levitt in “500 Days of Summer”), and all 90s sitcom (basically every actor in the movie). Sounds awesome right?

It is, but to be honest, the first 20 minutes feel a bit contrived. Then Adam Lerner gets cancer, and the movie gets awesome. Kyle (Rogen) convinces Adam to use his cancer to get girls, saying, “Chicks dig cancer Adam.” Rachel (Dallas-Howard) gets Adam a hilariously hangdog (pun intended) greyhound because “it helps with the healing process”—Adam replies, “Does it have a medical license?” Shortly thereafter, Adam meets his actual doctor, his cancer-therapist Katherine (charmingly doe-eyed Anna Kendrick), only to find that she’s 24 and doesn’t have a PHD.  Then he eats pot-laced macaroons with his elderly chemo buddies. In all, it might not be too hyperbolic to say that “50/50” is the funniest cancer movie ever.

But for all the irony and oddity, the movie is by no means a comedy. There’s hardly any smiling unless there are drugs involved, and the audience perpetually feels the weight of the illness on Adam’s shoulders. Director Jonathan Levine expertly juxtaposes every happy scene with a crushing dose of the reality of cancer. After one entertaining and carefree bar hopping sequence involving Kyle and Adam, Adam becomes tired and depressed and chews out Kyle for innocuously suggesting the two of them hit one more bar, calling him “selfish” and “childish.” Every time that Katherine jokes with Adam or attempts to reassure Adam, he indulges her for a little while but ultimately tells her to just shut up.

But in this juxtaposition of cruel and kind, the movie finds its true brilliance. This dichotomy, says Levine, is what cancer really is. The movie is funny and, at certain drugged-out moments, carefree, but  it always finds a center in the real gravitas of cancer; it succeeds for this reason.

It also finds a center in the relationships around Adam. No matter how much he pushes Kyle and Katherine and his mother away, no matter how much he screams at them, they somehow still rally around him. “Beaches” tried that, but it never showed true ups and downs — just the occasional casual spat. Levine shows, beautifully, just how turbulent cancer is, just how much it can hurt —but also how excellent it can be to have loving supporters. And that’s like “A Walk To Remember” right? Not really. “A Walk To Remember” needed to be grand with everything it did; “50/50” gives extremes but it does so in a way that’s normal and, I’ll say it again, real.

For someone who hates melodramas about cancer, “50/50” is the perfect movie. But even for someone who somehow thought “A Walk to Remember” was actually good, “50/50” will be entertaining — because it’s a legitimately good movie that doesn’t sacrifice humor or character for cheap tears. The tears still might come though.