'I'm with Cancer' casts Anna Kendrick and lands a new director

By Sarah Sluis

If you go to a film entitled I'm with Cancer, you have some idea of what to expect. Cancer = sad. The pun on "I'm with child" = funny. It also implies a kind of child/pet relationship, as if cancer is just this novel thing that pops out of you and starts going goo-goo-ga-ga.

The project also brings to mind a cautionary tale, Funny People. The rather generically titled Judd Apatow movie, which also involved serious illness, didn't live up to expectations this summer. It might have mixed up its tone too much, switching from comedy to drama and back, a strategy that left viewers with an odd, instead of cathartic, emotional experience.

Anna Kendrick just signed on to I'm with Cancer today, joining James McAvoy (the guy with cancer) and Seth Rogen (the guy's friend). Kendrick will play a psychologist who is supposed to help the cancer patient, but is a bit naive about the process. Jonathan Levine will now direct after the original director dropped out due to location difference--an odd-sounding, unusually neutral reason if I ever heard one.

But given the tricky subject of the comedy, how will people react? I found the best response in this script review, which was done by a woman with cancer. She ends up liking the script, though she notes that:

"I'm with Cancer approaches a serious disease with humor and light-heartedness. But to those who know people who have died from cancer, I fear the tone of the story may be off-putting and come across as flippant and disrespectful. It's not, but cancer evokes a lot of emotion in people and personal experiences will most definitely play into one's interpretation of this story."

Point taken. At this point, I'm thinking the tone is a touch more irreverent than Patch Adams, another story about finding humor in the face of death. What this project ultimately has in its favor is its real-life connection. The screenwriter, Will Reiser, based the story on his own experiences, and Rogen is a good friend both in real life and in the movie. While Funny People was purely fictional, Patch Adams (which, if I remember correctly, made me both laugh and cry) was also based on a true story. When you're dealing with a tonally complex story, real-life experiences may be the best way to anchor a film and prevent it from going all over the place.

James McAvoy 'With Cancer'

By Sarah Sluis

Serious illnesses are rarely the focal point of movies. They often seem to occur in the third act; offering us a deus ex machina revenge for a particularly evil person, or blighting an otherwise saintly person so we can feel the tragedy of it all. A movie like Philadelphia was as much a political film and courtroom drama as a movie about a man dying of AIDS. My Sister's Keeper, while moving, drew in a niche audience in search of a "weepie."

When illness blends with comedy, it's a trickier road. Patch Adams, which starred Robin Williams, was a comedy that also made you cry. Most recently, Funny People drew mixed reviews from both critics and mass audiences. While some people loved the film, others were more resistant. Regardless, it was a difficult movie to pull off, with 2 1/2 hours of tonal changes. Plus, when you're gathering up some friends for a movie night, a downer in the logline is one of the surest ways for someone to suggest another film.

Into this environment, the project formerly titled I'm With Cancer has managed to move forward, and production is scheduled to start in January. James McAvoy just signed on to star in the movie, and Seth Rogen (who also appeared in Funny People) will co-star and produce along with Evan Goldberg and writer-producer Ben Karlin. Nicole Holofcener (Friends with Money) will direct. McAvoy will play a 25-year-old who is diagnosed with cancer, and treats his illness with a good dose of humor. The story is based on the real-life experience of screenwriter Will Reiser, which I imagine will make the script more compelling and filled with realistic details and humor instead of sweeping insensitivities.

The production company, Mandate, has produced a number of films that have straddled cute and serious, namely teen pregnancy escapade Juno (a movie in which I also laughed and cried), but also upcoming The Baster, in which a sabotaged artificial insemination takes center stage. While seeing a movie about cancer isn't number one on my to-do list, I'm curious about how the screenplay reads and the exact tone of the movie. If the title change and marketing campaign strike the right note, people could be lining up for a movie about one of the worst things you could ever hear. And Reiser survived, so at least this comedy will have a happy ending.