This film is not just another run-of-the-mill romantic comedy where boy meets girl, boy loses girl and then spends the whole film moaning about it. Well OK there is some of this but it’s done in such a quirky and fresh way that you don’t mind, in fact you are enthralled.
I’ve grown quite sick of romantic comedies lately, where star-crossed lovers live happily ever after, what rubbish. 500 days of summer on the otherhand pretty much tells you at the very beginning that there’s not going to be that cutesy cue ending and love is not all that it’s cracked up to be.
The film does not run in a chronicological order; it jumps around, from present to past, during the 500 days that Tom Hansen (Joseph Gorden-Levitt ) has known, loved, and lost Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel ).
It begins with the post-break-up misery that Tom has been plunged into, robotically breaking plates while his friends and far too grown-up and wise little sister try to snap him out it. When one offers the old adage “there’s plenty of fish in the sea” Tom reflects back on his seemingly perfect relationship. We are transported back to where Summer walks into his work place, a greeting card company, for the first time. The narrator introduces a Summer who is no supermodel, but who exudes something amazing that always attracts men. Tom wants to spend the rest of his life with her. In fairness to Summer she does tell him from the very start that she doesn’t feel comfortable being anyone’s girlfriend and it’s better to stay friends - with benefits of course.
Tom plods along hoping that one day this status will change but then suddenly Summer breaks up with him. After weeks of misery Tom bumps into Summer again, is it fate? He arrives at a party and the cinema screen is suddenly divided into a expectations verses reality sequence, which in truth seems very real. We’re able to watch Tom’s frail fantasy on one side while the cut-throat reality plays out on the other.
As comedies go, this wouldn’t be the funniest. It’s more the quirkiness of it, the subtle clever humour, the acting, and the impressive film-making that appeal here. This is certainly an all round good watch, interesting, and worth a look.
Verdict: 4/5
