500 Days of Summer

Directed by Marc Webb

Review By Jody Newman

“You should know up front, this is not a love story,” the narrator warns within the first moments of (500) Days of Summer, director Marc Webb’s delightful entry into the anti-summer blockbuster offerings that allow you to believe in the magic of movies despite of the CGI-should-not-really-be-as-big-a hit-as-it-is films playing in surrounding theaters.  You see, even though you are warned of Tom Hanson and Summer Finn’s potentially un-fairytale-like ending, you find yourself hoping it was a ploy, a writer’s gimmick, perhaps. Surely these two deserve each other. Tom and Summer will realize it, you believe. They have to. Hell, the entire audience realizes it from the get-go.  We’ve seen enough movies to know how this is all going to end… Ah! But this isn’t your paint-by-numbers romantic comedy and first-time writers Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber are anything but clichéd. In fact, in their hands, the story isn’t so much ‘will they get back together?’ as it is ‘what made these 500 days so heartbreaking, so special ’.  And that is what makes this film a must see film!

It is worth the price of admission to see (500) Days of Summer solely on the story alone. It is a script that defies expectations, ignores linear story structure, and boldly combines genre. Where most scripts would collapse under this feat, Neustadter and Weber balance it so expertly that one is left in wide-eyed awe of their accomplishment. Some might argue that too much of the script has the character of Tom complaining about his break-up.  On the contrary, this is what MAKES this script original. These are Tom’s 500 days. The 500 days in which Summer dominates his life, his thoughts.  Some are good, others not so much. However, all of this year-and-a-half is the story’s focus, and Neustadter and Weber brilliantly execute it.

What helps elevate this film from a sleeper-hit to a must-see are the performances of Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel.  As Tom and Summer, these two bring a chemistry that often lacks in cookie-cutter romantic pictures. Gordon-Levitt perfectly embodies Tom Hanson’s hopeless romantic nature while Deschanel wears Summer Finn’s quirkiness, beauty, and strong will as if it was a couture-dress made solely for her. When they are role-playing in Ikea, we are eaves dropping on them. When they are shouting ‘penis’ at the park, we are laughing with them. And when they meet up at the end, we are hurting just like them … well, one of them. Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel give near-perfect performances that may very well be as memorable as the Sid and Nancy characters that they make reference to in the middle of the film. These are two actors at the top of their game, in a movie that raises expectations for the romantic comedy genre.

But …

It is bittersweet to see Joseph Gordon-Levitt stare, in character, at Summer. Not so much because of the look of utter adoration in his eyes, but because you know that when the rest of the world gets to discover him, (500) Days of Summer is the picture that is going to catapult him from independent film icon to mainstream leading man.  While I fear he will be missed in the independent world, I have to say, it couldn’t have happened to a better actor.