starring Jospeh Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel
In a nutshell: A romantic comedy a guy can love guilt-free. Loved it.
Quick synopsis: Tom is smitten with Summer and falls in love despite their understanding that she doesn't want anything serious. Over the next 1.5 years there are good times and bad times, but it all happens out of order.
Content: This is a bold statement, but (500) Days of Summer is Annie Hall for today's generation. Just like Woody Allen's finest picture, it's an unconventional romantic comedy that is told from the guy's point of view. It's filled with quirks and gimmicks, but they are used correctly, in a manner that is fitting. Even the completely odd dance scene hit all the right notes for me. And the slightly staggered reality vs. expectations scene was pulled off brilliantly, in a way I've never seen that sort of thing done before.
The roles of Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Summer (Zooey Deschanel) were cast perfectly. Tom, because he was awkward and shy, rather than strapping and successful. Summer, because she was free-spirited and had a certain je ne sais quoi.
Ultimately, viewers' opinions on this movie will likely rely almost entirely upon whether they liked the out-of-order presentation. I liked it a lot. It allowed me to empathize with Tom who couldn't understand what changed. I saw him acting the same way on day 50 that he did on day 250, yet Summer reacted differently. Sure, the writer could get away with using less care to ensure that characters and their emotions flowed smoothly in chronologically consecutive scenes because there were long stretches of other scenes between them, but the writers don't use this as a crutch. They used great care in piecing together the order in which the story is presented, holding back key pivotal scenes until near the end and repeating scenes minimally, only when it was absolutely necessary.
A fantastic soundtrack (as if you'd expect anything less from a kitchy indie like this) rounds out the reasons that I enjoyed the heck out of (500) Days of Summer. And, although it may have been a little cheesy, I LOVED the way it ended (her name!)
(500) Days of Summer is brimming with life and creativity. And as a reward, first-time director Marc Webb's second assignment is.....the next Spider-Man movie?! Whatever, I'll go with it, as long as he continues to make time for the small stories in between blockbusters.
Rolling rankings:
1. (500) Days of Summer (#185)
2. Up in the Air (#182)
3. Avatar (#176)
4. Sherlock Holmes (#178)
5. Big Fan (#180)
6. The Cove (#177)
7. The September Issue (#183)
8. Kids (#179)
9. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (#184)
10. Extract (#181)
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