(500) Days of Summer

Review by Chris Pandolfi for (500) Days of Summer
Rating:
“(500) Days of Summer” is a wonderfully refreshing experience, a romantic comedy that doesn’t follow the rules of a romantic comedy. It’s inventive, intelligent, and engaging, a story of the dualities a young man lives with on a daily basis. On the one hand, there’s the duality between falling in love and believing that love doesn’t exist; Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) grew up believing in fate bringing soul mates together whereas Summer (Zooey Deschanel) grew up not believing in much of anything, least of all lasting relationships. On the other hand, there’s the duality between what one would like to happen and what actually does happen; we often go through life with expectations, even though we know deep down that most will never be met. Tom is in a tug-of-war between his romantic fantasies and the reality that Summer doesn’t believe in true love.

Levitt’s performance is a revelation. He plays Tom with sincerity. Tom is approachable and good natured, highly confident yet not so above-it-all that he can’t be desperate and miserable at times. He writes greeting cards for a living but has always dreamed of becoming an architect, and he often finds inspiration from the Los Angeles skyscrapers that surround him. His story unfolds in much the same way a memory does, with fragments that pop up all out of sequence until the reality of those 500 days become clear. Some may be confused by this, but keep in mind that memory and chronological order never go hand in hand. This is especially true when reflecting on a relationship. Tom continuously thinks back trying to make sense of it all, only to end up considering the possibility that Summer was right all along.

Deschanel, who seemed so awkward in films like “Yes Man” and “The Happening,” here is perfectly cast. Summer is charming, fun, and sweet, but she’s also mysterious, distant, and casual about life. She dates Tom and even makes love to him, yet she will never see him as anything more than a friend. She’s with him not because she’s in love–she’s just having fun while living in the moment. It’s about all she can do given the fact that she can’t love anything, save for the length of her hair and the fact that she can cut it off without feeling anything. There are a few select moments, however, when she connects with Tom at a more personal level, inviting him into her artsy apartment and eventually opening up about past experiences. This makes Tom feel appreciated, as he believes, perhaps correctly, that she doesn’t go this far with too many people.

By the end of the film, Tom feels like someone we’ve gotten to know. Summer, on the other hand, remains enigmatic, underscoring the uncertainty engrained in any kind of relationship. There are times when Tom thinks he has her figured out. There are other times when it seems as if they’ve never even met. Loving relationships are based on compromises, and while Tom would be willing to make a few, Summer most definitely would not. She does what she wants when she wants it. This is admirable, but when matters of the heart are involved, the line does need to be drawn somewhere.

Tom’s emotional roller coaster ride occasionally gets the visual treatment. In one scene, he becomes the star of a musical number featuring dancers and a cartoon bluebird. In another scene, he imagines himself as characters in black and white European art house films by Ingmar Bergman and Federico Fellini. The single most creative shot has him standing in the middle of the street while the buildings transform into an architectural sketch, much like the one he drew on Summer’s arm. Director Marc Webb treats these scenes not as showcases of special effects but as special moments of heightened reality, which is fitting given the battle waged between what Tom desires and what he actually gets. The most obvious interpretation of this theme is a split-screen image late in the film, one side marked “Expectations,” the other side marked “Reality.”

These extra touches make this movie enjoyable, but its Gordon and Deschanel that make it a joy to watch. They have chemistry. You believe in them as actual people and not merely as characters. They show just how talented they are as actors, although credit must also be given to Webb’s direction and the screenplay by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber. They breathe life into “(500) Days of Summer,” a film we’re told right off the bat is not a love story. Nor should it be; we’ve seen love stories before, and while they more or less work as entertaining distractions, rarely do they provide insight or even traces of plausibility. This movie is more ambitious than that. It aims to tell a story without resorting to cheap gimmicks like cliché dialogue or contrived plotlines. The end result is a story that’s often funny, often thoughtful, and always compelling.

Review by Chris Luallen for (500) Days of Summer
Rating:
Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) falls head over heels for Summer Finch (Zooey Deschauel) the new girl working at his office. The story of their relationship is told in non-chronological order, including a few highly original scenes such as Tom turning the streets of LA into a chorus line following his first night with Summer. You know from the start that Tom and Summer are bound to split up. But the movie comes together nicely in the end, showing that when one story ends another is bound to begin.

One thing I really like about this movie is that’s it’s the guy who is the hopeless romantic and the girl who remains emotionally distant. This contrast with the usual male-female stereotypes is refreshing and something I experienced myself when I was a young man. The movie is also quite nuanced and contains numerous references to classic literature, classic films and classic rock. In other words, it’s way smarter than the usual Hollywood romantic comedy. It’s also more funny and had me laughing out loud on several occassions. I do have to admit that the non-chronological sequencing of the 500 days left me dizzy at times and how much you like this movie will depend, to some extent, on how much you can identify with the main characters. But this is a well made movie and one worthy of seeing.

Review by L P for (500) Days of Summer
Rating:
Zoey Deschanel is perfectly cast in this movie as the sort of woman who walks all over a man without him actually realizing what has happened to him, because she does it with a smile on her face and lots of charm. Throughout the movie, it is kind of unclear actually as to what it is about Summer as a person that Tom, such a sensitive, funny, and smart guy, finds enticing and falls for. Besides looking cute, Summer is not particularly fun or funny, charming, kind or generous. She is aloof, cold, distanced, has no sense of humor and is kind of insincere actually. She has Tom wrapped around her little finger, leads him on and treats him like crap. Maybe her constant withholding and elusive charm is what he is attracted to? He sure wouldnt be the first because he keeps pursuing her and goes back for more. In its essence, this movie is a story about a man loving a woman who doesnt love him back. Summer, of course, blames life and the nature of relationships for her behavior, but we all know that these are just the standard, run of the mill excuses one hears from people who dont love you.

They say that the power of a relationship lies with whoever cares less. No movie exemplifies this more than this one. Summer is the one who cares less and so she clearly holds the power in this relationship, which she unkindly uses.

500 days of summer is a charming, intelligent love story that arrives at common wisdom regarding love and relationships in an unconventional way. It is beautifully photographed, with believable characters, engaging dialogs and great soundtrack.