Movies

James McAvoy Kids Around With Cancer

By  · Published on August 19th, 2009

Guess what little ones, cancer is hilarious!! Variety reports that undeniably Scottish actor James McAvoy has jumped on the cancer bandwagon with his attachment to I’m With Cancer. The movie will be directed by Nicole Holofcener (Lovely & Amazing) and will be produced by Seth Rogen who will also star. The movie is about a young man who fights a long battle with cancer over many years…….and it’s a comedy? Somebody pass me the fucking popcorn!

With Judd Apatow’s Funny People being released this Summer and now this announcement from Variety, can we safely assume that cancer is making the first steps toward being funny? Have we lived in fear of this epidemic long enough to allow Indie-coms to give us a chemo chuckle? There are those of us that would argue that there was nothing funny about Funny People except the cancer. Well at least we have The Bucket List to make cancer funny right? Hmmm…

But in all seriousness, McAvoy is a terrific actor. Everyone seems hung up on his performance in Atonement but I think his work in The Last King of Scotland is truly remarkable and I am interested to see what he can do with a script of this emotional caliber. And although watching Wanted made me wonder if getting inoperable brain tumors would be a preferable experience, I still have faith in the kid. I am interested to see how he will interact with Rogen; something about their screen presences don’t compute for me but history has taught us that serious Scottish actors can really flex their comedic chops when called upon. For reference see funnyman Sean Connery in Darby O’Gill and the Little People. I’m just kidding, don’t really.

But this raises an important question: if cancer is funny now, how soon until other horrible diseases get their chance to make us laugh? Imagine it! We could be just months away from It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad Cow! Or what about S.A.R.S: The Musical! Say what you will, if they make Babe Gets The Flu I will see it.

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Longtime FSR columnist, current host of FSR’s Junkfood Cinema podcast. President of the Austin Film Critics Association.