Review – (500) Days of Summer

(500) Days of Summer
I literally just finished watching this movie and immediately had to write my review. I loved everything about this movie; it was fantastic from start to finish.

The movie poster doesn’t lie when it says that this isn’t a love story, it’s a story about love. When I first heard of the movie and it’s plot, I was a little leery, thinking that this could get a little depressing. I mean, watching a relationship bloom and then wither and die? Fun times. But the way the movie was written and edited really made the whole thing … what’s a good word … I dunno, but it made for a really entertaining hour and a half.

The movie jumps back and forth in time from the bright shiny beginning of the relationship all the way through to the bitter end, always letting you know what day we’re on (quite handy). The subtle color changes used throughout the movie were genius, playing with warmer tones in the scenes where the relationship is still new, then shifting into cooler blues when we’re being shown the not-so-happy times. This great production detail, along with the wonderful acting and editing, really pulls you into the relationship. You really feel both the extreme happiness and the miserable suffering of this poor guy.

But we’re not always stuck in the more serious aspects of the story; there are plenty of bits scattered throughout that are wonderfully funny. At times, it was the use of editing playing with the writing – eg) in a scene where our main character, Tom, talks of hoping that an evening will meet his expectations … we’re shown two versions of the evening at the same time, one labeled “expectations” and one labeled “reality,” which needless to say, don’t match – sometimes the characters themselves offered wonderful comedic relief, either in the characters of his two friends (rarely on screen, but entertaining when they’re there), or in the games of the bright shiny new couple (playing the “penis” game in the park … if you don’t know the game, tsk tsk) or inadvertently in the suffering and anguish (listing exactly what he hates about Summer, which happens to match exactly, on said in much more flattering terms, what he earlier lists as what he loves about her.) All together, between the comedy and the reality, this movie does a great job of showing just what a slow breakup can be like while still entertaining the audience.

Let’s see, what else did I love about this movie … how about I just list some randomness that was fantastic? Yeah.

soundtrack – despite the use of slightly older songs, still a great soundtrack similar to the wonderful Garden State

wonderfully quotable lines -

Blow Job?
No.
Hand Job?
No. I’m still unemployed.

Robin is better than the girl of my dreams. She’s real.

Tom Hansen grew up believing that he’d never truly be happy until the day he met ‘the one’. This belief stemmed from early exposure to sad British pop music and a total mis-reading of the movie ‘The Graduate’.

There are two kinds of people in this world … there are women, and there are men.

Who’s Lars from Norway?
Just some guy she met at the gym with Brad Pitt’s face and Jesus’ abs.

Roses are red, violets are blue … fuck you, whore.

the great relationship between Tom and his younger sister – they have some great moments in the movie, between his going to her for relationship advice and acting slightly annoyed that she actually have boyfriends and such (little sister and all), they make for some fantastic siblings

adorable couple moments that remain adorable even though you know the relationship is doomed – playing house in Ikea (Honey, I don’t know how to tell you this … but there’s a Chinese family in our bathroom.), laughing while attempting shower sex, the previously mentioned Penis Game in the park

the fact that the breakup scene in which Sid and Nancy are mentioned sparked the following short:

the fact that the movie begins with this – Author’s Note: The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. Especially you, Jenny Beckman. Bitch.

Well, that’s enough of a list for you. Oh, did I mention that Joseph Gordon-Levitt is as cute as ever and especially so in this movie? Yeah, that should go on the list too.

Needless to say, I liked the movie. Go watch it!

Or don’t.

Or do…