500 Days of Summer 0
This movie is not for the Katherine Heigl, Jennifer Aniston or Kate Hudson camp. You can add Matthew McConaughey to that list, because this isn’t your standard romantic comedy. In fact, it’s not even a love story, according to the narrator, “It’s a story about love” – a witty, fresh, funny and insightful look into something most of us can actually relate to.
The film triumphs on many levels, the first of which is casting, specifically, Joseph Gordon Levitt. I’m kind of shocked. After all, I’ve only really known him as that guy in “Third Rock From the Sun”. And despite being somewhat of an indie-king, he’s remained under the radar for quite some time. Well, not anymore. Thanks to the success of the sensitive, nice-guy role, he’s going to be fighting off hoardes of hormonal females. (Note to my male readers: girls DO like nice guys!)
He plays Tom, an insanely likeable would-be architect who spends his work days in an office writing greeting cards. Zooey Deschanel is Summer, the charming free spirit who tests his faith in love and fate after getting a job in the same workplace. This character-driven film centers on the formation and progression of a 500 day love affair that finds them dipping in and out of a tangy, bittersweet love jar, replete with Beatles banter, Ikea-escapades and rainy-night apologies. Gordon-Levitt keeps it all together with a puppy-dog sincerity and bashful insecurity, as he attempts to eke out a real relationship from their romance; Summer doesn’t believe in true love, nor does she like the idea of being “anybody’s anything.”
Why does the movie succeed? Because it takes viewers away from the usual chick-flick angle that assumes love is easy once the attraction is formed – that all anyone really needs is the right song and the right moment of breathless desperation to realize they are “meant to be”.
500 Days has nothing of that nature. It’s smart and it’s real. It’s a straight-shooter without any excess sugar (although it is sweet), taking traditional gender roles and spinning it like a vinyl record. It’s the boy who experiences the falling in love, the chasing, the waiting and the heartbreak. And it finds the girl, with her hipster sensibilities approaching the relationship with an airy detachment and a cool nonchalance that insists on being happily uncommitted.
But why does this feel like a revelation? Is regular Hollywood unaware that not every female is a clinging vine? Don’t they know that sensitive new-age guys are increasing in numbers and dudes can be hopeless romantics too? I happen to know a handful of such men and it’s nice to finally see a movie reflect this not-so-uncommon reality.
And it doesn’t get any realer than the pursuit of a love that inherently holds no guarantees. How can anyone be sure?
Soul-stirring songs scaffold the pivotal moments where truth obscures love and hope becomes heartbreak, turning doubt into confusion and anger into tears. A song that’s sure to win the iTunes sales game and multiple Youtube views is “Us” by Regina Spektor, (the one you hear in the trailer) for it will forcefully feed you scenes from the movie long after you’ve seen it. That’s a good thing. This is the power of a film that strikes out in defiance of aged customs and used clichés. It takes us by the waist and waltzes us into split screen “reality vs. ideal” scenarios, non-linear time-lines, a hilarious, celebratory dance number and drunken karaoke (ok, so some clichés remain).
I didn’t really like the ending (as clever as it was) because here’s where it dives into standard Hollywood “destiny” fare, pretty much losing the credibility it built up until that point. It’s charming yes, but it’s all too convenient. I suppose it serves as a reminder that this is just a movie after all – albeit one that, like life itself, is funny, sweet and utterly unpredictable.
Overall, it’s one of the best films I’ve seen in the last 60 days of summer.