(500) Days of Summer

Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is always looking for the one. Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel) doesn't believe in love since her parents' divorce. The narration explains that "This is not a love story". The movie moves in a non-linear timeline. His sister Rachel (Chloë Grace Moretz), McKenzie (Geoffrey Arend), and Paul (Matthew Gray Gubler) are his friends. Summer is the new assistant to his boss Vance (Clark Gregg) in his greeting card workplace and he falls head over heals.

Zooey is the 'It' girl and JGL is playing the adorable leading man. Zooey is a great fantasy girlfriend. They make a fine rom-com couple or in this case, the anti-rom-com couple. The non-linear structure and the serious narration give it a fantasy feel. It's offbeat in tone and in structure. It's not dripping in realism but it is loads of fun. Music video director Marc Webb brings a different sensibility to this traditional genre.

Everyone loves summer. It's a time for friends, family, and fun. Ballgames, barbecues, amusement parks, and movies, summer is just a time to sit back, relax and enjoy. Enjoy time off, good weather and whatever else it might bring. Am I missing something? Oh yes, love. Summer is a time for love.

The film can be pretty much summed up in one of the first lines of the film. "This is a story of boy meets girl. But you should know up front, this is not a love story." But is it? 500 Days of Summer is not your typical romantic film. There's something to it, something more than your usual romantic comedy. Maybe it's the style it's done? Maybe it's the realistic nature? Maybe it's the wonderful music? Maybe its the beautiful cinematography? Maybe, its Tom and Summer...

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel are the leads, Tom and Summer. These are real everyday people. Tom, a believer in true love. Summer, a doubter. Which reminds me of one particular scene where Summer questions Tom about believing in love. Tom replies, "It's love, it's not Santa Claus." It is a real thing, a crazy little thing called love. Tom falls in love with Summer from the start. She doesn't. Tom is like every other guy, and every guy knows of a girl like Summer. The girl they want, but can't have. They try, to no avail. It's frustrating, and Tom is frustrated. He's happy then sad. He doesn't know what to think. Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel have great chemistry together and give solid performances. You really believe their relationship and hardships. It makes you notice the little things in relationships. The film highlights two young stars on the rise. With some great performances lately for Joseph Gordon-Levitt, his stock is rising... dare I say an up and coming Heath Ledger?

The story is not in direct order as it goes back and forth from different days Tom remembers his life and relationship with Summer. When remembering, we may not remember every detail in order. We choose what we want to remember. May that be the good, or the bad. For Tom, it's a little bit of both. Big props to the editing department. The film shows the good and the bad of love, relationships, and life. There's something about it that sets it apart from the usual romantic comedy.

500 Days of Summer is really refreshing now a days. It's funny, unique, and true to life. It's got something for everybody to like. Director Marc Webb shines in his feature film debut. I'm interested to see where he goes from here. 500 Days of Summer has quickly become a late summer highlight for me and surprisingly so at that.

I haven't seen a romance this touching since I was the same type of single sad sack as depicted by the hero of (500) Days of Summer.

Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) has his radar up for "the girl of his dreams" when he meets Summer (Zooey Deschanel). Too bad for Tom Summer is stuck on friends-with-benefits mode. Let the tension begin.

Director Marc Webb captures the feeling of innocent, naïve love expertly. Anyone who has taken the lyrics of the Smiths too closely to heart, would be moved by the idea of the person they are crushing on sing to them: "To die by your side/is such a heavenly way to die." No wonder Tom soon falls head over heels for this girl.

As events unfold out of sequence, you know all along Tom has fallen for a time bomb of a woman, and he can't even see the countdown. When that bomb finally blows up in his face, it unfolds with powerful simplicity-- no exposition or dialog, just two juxtaposed events that capture the heartache of reality hitting a person who sees a person through the filter of deep-seated emotions that were planted at too young an age.

So many romantic films nowadays concern themselves with cute ideas; take 'He's Just Not That Into You' or 'Serendipity' for example. Even movies like 'Knocked Up' where a pot-smoking, video-gaming, narcissistic slob tries to turn his life around to try to be a father feels more contrived than real. These movies forget about human feelings.

Who cares about stock or cartoonish characters in love. The couple in (500) Days of Summer have true chemistry. There are some beautiful, subtle moments of tenderness as well as some heart- rending moments of disconnectedness between the two that never comes across as heavy-handed. The movie constantly reminds you that these are two different people with different ideas of a relationship, yet they stubbornly continue dating, and they remain lovable all the same.

An omniscient narrator sets the film up early on by noting "this is not a love story." And, in a way, it isn't. It's a story about feelings. It just so happens (500) Days of Summer captures the sensation of falling in love better than most movies.

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I don't regularly comment on movies, but this has a personal accord with me.

My girlfriend of one year broke up with me the day before I went to watch this film, as promised.

That being said, Tom (Joseph Gordon Levit) embodies my apathy and frustration in every mannerism. He allows the audience to feel his pain and disappointment. Tom is a man with boyish ideals, coming to terms with the grief of rejection. He teaches her how one loves, yet she never learns to except and give as selflessly. Probably because, as I and Tom have painfully learned, you can't teach or bequile someone as you would a child into doing love 'properly.' And sometimes, true love dies, and no sea of tears can change that.

Summer, played by Zooey Deschanel, is fun, beautiful and selfish. Undoubtedly the villain, the film seeks a reversal of standards; the male is now being preyed upon.

Is Tom naive? or is Summer a cruel and self interested girl?

The only thing that really bothered me was the director's incessant need to punctuate scenes of emotional substance with cliché romantic comedy relief. He already broke custom, why conform?

Greetings again from the darkness. The narrator warns us upfront ... this is not a love story. Still, we are so preconditioned by Hollywood, that directive merely floated around in my head until near the end of the film when I realized it was perfectly accurate.

Joseph Gordon-Levit and Zooey Deschanel are the leads and each bring a certain quirkiness and sensitivity to their roles. Watching them grow as a couple just never quite clicks for the viewer the way it does for JGL's character. He buys in hook, line and sinker and believes his destiny for love is being fulfilled by Summer (Zooey).

Director Marc Webb throws a bit of everything at us - just to prove this is not a traditional love story. We get the fun of memory blender - flashbacks like Day 488, Day 2, Day 159 - well you get the point. That is how most of us remember anyway: non-linear. We also get a funny musical number in the park, a b & w Bergmanesque dramatization, and a leading man whose poetic musings are limited to his writing quips for a greeting card company. Oh, he also takes love advice from his 11 year old soccer-playing sister (Chloe Moretz), but wisely declines most of it from his best friend played by sexist, drunken (and funny) co-worker, Geoffrey Arend.

What I really like about the film is that it is different, yet very realistic. So often our "dream" girl is just not quite a fit in this world, yet she and the next guy are just right. Doesn't seem fair, but in reality, it is not only fair, but perfectly just. And remember, there is always another season ... maybe Autumn?