(500) Days of Summer

This will be brief as I know most people have not seen this film yet and I don't want to spoil it for you:

I loved this movie.

Romantic comedies get a bad rap. That's because there are so many pumped out every year and most of them are garbage. Now, anyone that knows me, knows that I like going to see bad romantic comedies as well. What can I say? I love love! But don't mistake the fact that just because I go see them all, that I might actually think they are good.

No, there are indeed few romantic comedies that have that perfect combination of good writing, good directing and good performances from the actors. It's hard to reach the perfection that is such films as Annie Hall or When Harry Met Sally (and let's not forget Sleepless in Seattle!). I don't expect that (not everyone can be an Allen or Ephron!) but it certainly is refreshing when one stumbles upon a film about romance that is a step above complete fluff.

(500) Days of Summer is the first feature film from director Marc Webb. It was written by Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber and to them I say bravo, job well done!

It follows Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Tom and Zooey Deschanel as Summer and their 500 days together from beginning to middle and then the end. Yes, I tire of seeing Deschanel play the "kooky" girl. To me, she seems to play variations of the same character, over and over again but I don't dislike her. And JGL is the hottest thing I've seen in awhile. Pardon me while I go wring out the ol' undies (ahem, sorry)! They were both great in this, especially him, and their chemistry helped to make this movie as wonderful as it was.



Sure, this isn't the greatest film ever made but it was nice to see an original spin on this familiar tale that we all know so well, in the movies and in real life. I thought the writers did an excellent job of capturing the fun, the awkward, and the messy moments that make up all relationships as they blossom and then fall apart. It was all around a clever and inventive film.

What I took away from it was that when suffering a broken heart, we all choose to look back and focus only on the good times when if we could just step back and get out of our heads, we might see the relationship for what it was - not very good. We'd see that stuff that meant we weren't meant to be. I know I've been there and I would imagine that you have been too. It's just too bad that for most people it takes months, if not years in some cases, to get to that point.

A lovely film. Please go see it.

-Amanda

2009
RT - 89%
IMDB - 8.3/10