500 DAYS OF SUMMER Review

Ever since I first saw the trailer for 500 Days of Summer back in January, I have wanted to see it. It looked like just my type of movie and of course the cast only added to my excitement.

I ended up seeing 500 Days of Summer at the 2009 LA Film Festival in June (because there was no way I was missing the chance to see it) and let me tell you it didn’t disappoint.

500 Days of Summer tells the story of Tom who gets dumped by Summer, whom he thinks is the love of his life. Tom then tries to understand what went wrong and starts looking back at his relationship with Summer. The movie moves back and forth between pre and post break up scenes as Tom tries to win Summer back.

The opening sequence for the movie is one of the best that I have seen in a while. To this day it still makes me laugh. It’s nothing big but a few sentences telling you about the movie, but it definitely puts you in the mood for what’s coming. I won’t spoil what it says because it would take away all its effect, but it was such a great way to start the movie that I had to mention it.

The movie also warns us that this is not a love story and that’s true, but you’ll have to go and see it to find out exactly what 500 Days of Summer is all about.

I can tell you that I loved it from beginning to end. The editing adds so much to the story. Instead of the usual linear storytelling, we gradually learn more and more about Tom and Summer’s relationship, while at the same time seeing the post break up phase and how it’s affecting Tom.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is really brilliant, it feels that he gets better and better year after year. He is just so endearing as Tom and has some pretty funny scene. For example there is one where he starts to randomly dance in the street, and suddenly everyone starts dancing with him. That scene is probably the best one in the movie, and I have to give props to the director Marc Webb for not making it feel cheesy, but right in line with the tone of the movie.

Zooey Deschanel is also really good as Summer. We see the story through Tom’s eyes and so only know Summer through him. The director and writers (Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber) did a great job at keeping part of her character secret, and so it was up to Zooey Deschanel to make her lovable, so that we understand Tom’s attraction to her, and she did it.

The supporting cast, while not the main interest of the film, also helped in making it all come together. Geoffrey Arend and Matthew Gray Gubler are really great as Tom’s friends, and it was fun to see Matthew Gray Gubler is something else than ‘Criminal Minds.’

I also really loved Chloe Grace Moritz, who plays Tom’s little sister, Rachel. Let’s just say that Rachel is kind of Tom’s therapist even though she’s only like 11. It’s brilliant.

500 Days of Summer is not a typical romantic comedy, so don’t expect that when you go see the movie. But expect something more, something more original, something more true, and something more great (I know, I know my grammar sucks, but you get the point).

You should absolutely check out 500 Days of Summer when it comes out to theaters, I promise it will surprise you in the best of ways.

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Title: 500 Days of Summer
Director: Marc Webb
Cast: Zooey Deschanel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Geoffrey Arend, Chloe Grace Moritz, Matthew Gray Gubler, Clark Gregg, Rachel Boston, Minka Kelly
Synopsis: This is a story of boy meets girl, begins the wry, probing narrator of 500 DAYS OF SUMMER, and with that the film takes off at breakneck speed into a funny, true-to-life and unique dissection of the unruly and unpredictable year-and-a-half of one young man’s no-holds-barred love affair.
Tom, the boy, still believes, even in this cynical modern world, in the notion of a transforming, cosmically destined, lightning-strikes-once kind of love. Summer, the girl, doesn’t. Not at all. But that doesn’t stop Tom from going after her, again and again, like a modern Don Quixote, with all his might and courage. Suddenly, Tom is in love not just with a lovely, witty, intelligent woman – not that he minds any of that — but with the very idea of Summer, the very idea of a love that still has the power to shock the heart and stop the world.
Release Date: July 17, 2009
Watch the trailer here