214. (500) Days of Summer

(500) Days of Summer (2009)

Director: Marc Webb

Starring: Joseph-Gordon Levitt

Zooey Deschanel

Geoffrey Arend

IMDb Rating: 8

My Rating: 9

"This is a story of boy meets girl, but you should know up front, this is not a love story."

Tom Hansen (Joseph-Gordon Levitt) is your average hopeless romantic, who fittingly works at a greeting card company in Los Angeles. The moment he lays eyes on the new girl in the office, Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel), he is instantly in love. The two bond over the English rock band The Smiths on an elevator ride one afternoon, this only increases his attraction for her. Tom attempts to convey his feelings to the oblivious girl of his dreams, but fails to do so just about every time. It isn't until a drunken night of karaoke, that his best friend McKenzie (Geoffry Arend) let's Summer in on Tom's secret. She is ultimately glad to hear that Tom likes her, since she finds him to be very interesting. A few days later in the copy room, Summer kisses Tom without instigation or fair warning. From this moment on, there is no turning back for Tom.

Summer is very up front from the beginning about not wanting a "serious relationship". Tom plays cool, and agrees to just keep it casual. They go to the movies and talk about music like most new couples often do. Almost a year into the relationship, Summer feels that it just isn't working and wants to be just friends. This sends Tom into a spiral of epic porportions full of whiskey and no call-no shows at work. Tom's road to recovery is long and hard, but a chance encounter at mutual friends wedding just might be the spark they need to get their romance going once again. Ultimately, (500) Days of Summer is about having love, losing that love, and once again reclaiming the person that you are.

What sets (500) Days of Summer apart from most romantic comedies is the simple fact that it is good. Scratch that, this movie is great! It takes the ordinary boy meets girl storyline, and gives it a completely new format. The spacing and rearranging of the "500 days of Summer" order, reads like a self help book where we learn new lessons in every chapter. One minute we are at day 290 watching the break-up and then we flashback to other days of happy moments, which Tom can't help but focus on. The film is completely from the view of Tom, and his is ultimately true to how a person's mind works during the fall of a relationship. You jump back and forth between the good, and don't spend nearly enough time focusing on what got you dumped in the first place. The films liberal use of a timeline added that extra bit realism that most romantic comedies are lacking.

Another thing that truly sets this film apart is the plethora of original film sequences. There are quite a few I could talk about, but I really want to focus on two of them. Throwing realism out the window for a second, after Tom and Summer's first sexual encounter, he is on cloud nine. He leaves his apartment and walks down the street with Hall & Oates 80's classic "You Make My Dreams" playing in his mind. He checks his hair in a car window and sees the reflection of *Han Solo. As he continues down the sidewalk, he is subject to high fives from construction workers and business men. All of a sudden, everyone starts dancing with Tom in sequence. This accounted for my favorite scene at the movies this year, and is easily on my list of favorites of all time. Another scene that I found to be incredible was a split screen "expectations versus reality" sequence at a dinner party Summer hosts. On the right side of the screen we see what Tom expects to happen at the party, directly in sequence on the left is the reality of what is actually occurring. If nothing else, this scene completely summarizes Tom's fairy tale of idea of romance and relationships. It's heartbreaking, but all together amazing. It is scenes like these two that make (500) Days of Summer not only an enjoyable movie, but a technically superior film.

There were many people that didn't like this film, mainly do to the last scene with Tom and Summer in the park. Whether you wanted the happy ending or the sad ending, you'll have to watch the film to decide. I thought it ended perfectly, although my first impression wasn't one of happiness. My wonderful girlfriend had to put me in my place to make me see the bigger picture. I may understand movies on some higher level, but I am still a fool when it comes to women. I am getting off track here. (500) Days of Summer breathes life into a genre that has become quite stagnant in recent years. It's unique film sequences and perfectly rearranged timeline takes this out of the class of rom-com, and places it with some of 2009's best films. I believe that this film will turn out to be the Annie Hall of my generation. I highly encourage you to see this film.

*author's note: when I am feeling studly, I often see the reflection of Indiana Jones. How many other Harrison Ford character's do people see when they are feeling sexy? And just for fun, I will take this down after a day or so...