500 Days of Summer Reviews

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zoey Deschanel do a wonderful job in this off beat completely different romantic comedy. One thats strikes more to the reality of the complicated way love works than many others in the genre.

Romantic comedies are largely dependent on two things: Sharp writing and electrifyingly realistic performances from the lead actors. "(500) Days of Summer" delivers with flying colors with a style that is both refreshing and inventive.

Is it Joseph Gordon Levitt season for me or what? "Looper", "Premium Rush", "The Dark Knight Rises", and now (500). For the most part, I've been one of the few that has consistently been cautious about the growing fame of Levitt. And for the most part, all of his roles in previous films have been nothing more but adequate on my part. However, in (500), he manages to be effective and convincing largely due to a palpable chemistry with his counterpart: Zooey Deschanel. The two play off each other realistically and are convincing. As the two play "kyootsie-time" each other, the dialogue the banter with each other is both engaging and humorous enough to let the movie's pacing flow along smoothly. And because of these two aspects, from the opening moments to the end of the second act, "(500) Days of Summer" is a wonderful time. But what can you expect if you're gonna spend 500 days with summer? By the time the third act begins, the chemistry between the lead stars no longer evolves in a film that is largely slim on narrative but dependent on character development. Furthermore, the film's pacing begins to chug to a halt and leaving audiences, not particularly bored, but waiting patiently.

Nevertheless, (500) is an entertaining romantic comedy that marinates the audience with a palpable chemistry. Pacing issues, unfortunately, get in the way from this becoming a great romantic comedy. Still, pack up your beach umbrellas, swim suits, and your smores for "(500) Days of Summer"; it's an entertaining time that is surely not to disappoint.

''This is not a love story , this is a story about love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!''

I expected something a lot more pretentious than I got, which was a pleasant surprise. There's a line in this film that blows me away, when Joseph Gordon-Levitt finally says to Zooey Deschanel, "You just do whatever you want, don't you?" A great story about heartbreak, about dating that absolutely impossible woman, and though it might not be the kindest to women in general, it keeps its anger targeted at only the one woman. I was particularly impresssed, again, by Gordon-Levitt, and Deschanel - who's hard to imagine outside of the "Bein' Quirky" parody of her on SNL, anymore - managed to make the "quirky" girl less loveable than usual. A nice surprise - engaging, affecting, and often funny, with a scrambled chronology that didn't seem so cheap a gimmick as it usually does and a bunch of shout-outs to diverse and classic film styles, from 40s musicals to Bergman's Seventh Seal to A Scanner Darkly, and more. Good flick, you should see it.

The most realistic romantic comedy movie ever made.

Smart, funny and brilliant, it definitely left a taste in my mouth. If what to do with it's really tempting, brave, thoughtful ending and possible ramifications with my own, I do not know for now, but indeed it is one film I will probably remember somewhere again throughout the course of my life, and remember how endearing this movie was, and will most likely want to watch this movie all over again.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is on fine form here in this sweet romantic film. More 'indie cool' than rom-com, it breaks away from the usual formulaic Hollywood bile and 'moves about' a bit. The narrative works well with the story, which is written, told and directed very well. My only gripe with it, and this is more a matter of personal taste, is that Zooey Deschanel is pretty far from my idea of an 'object of desire'. My only desire is to banish her from film and TV, and that is me being refrained and nice. I can't stand her. The rest of it is tip top!

"Narrator: 'You should know upfront, this is not a love story.' And that's when I knew I needed backup," my sister said to me as she pulled me into our theatrette to watch 500 Days of Summer with her. It's a mature reminder of how fragile, one-sided, temperamental and all-consuming love can be, and also just a really funny and bittersweet film. Would be great for getting over a breakup.

--- SPOILER ---
It is a movie with sort of a plot twist, in the form of a shift in perspective. From Tom's POV, he is madly in love with Summer and sees every event that happens in their courtship (from liking the same indie band to her sharing her secrets with him) as a sign. Destiny. How they were meant to be together. Those happy memories are coloured golden by his romantic lens on their time together. But as soon as the illusion is shattered, the audience realizes, looking back, that Summer never shared his feelings of this being a grandiose, earth-shaking love. She never made any sort of commitment to him. It's heartbreaking but the movie forces you to not look away as he crumbles.

I love that the film ends on a note of reborn hope, that Tom will someday shed all his fantasies about this first, unforgettable love and finally move on to someone who will reciprocate everything he has to offer.

This film describes my life and the lives of ALL hopeless romantics. The reality of the film is inescapable and also heartbreaking. I love it because it not only brings tears to my eyes every time I'm reminded of my own past "Summer Finns'" but also because there are lots of fish in the sea and life goes on. (500) Days Of Summer is not a comedy or a drama, its life in an hour and a half.

I thought this film was going to be a good movie, but this was (in one word) a masterpiece! Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel have some of the best on-screen chemistry I have ever seen. When Tom meets summer his life begins to changes as he falls in love with her, but the story is only telling us that 500 days will be the end of the relationship. With heartfelt, funny, and charming moments, every scene in this film is memorable, especially the random dance number that I will never forget. "500 Days of Summer" proves that romantic fairytales are not only in the movies, and that this genre still has some gas to keep it going. This is a brilliant film that I can recommend to everyone!

As a film enthusiast you're always on the lookout for innovation in films - not specifically for films which move the goalposts and redefine our notions of cinema, but for those which take something well-worn and familiar and challenge it for a new audience. With this in mind, there is nothing that can get one's gander up more than a film which claims or thinks that it is being inventive, when in fact the merest glance beneath its surface shows that it is nothing of the sort.

(500) Days of Summer comes at you with claims of being a genuine postmodern love story, an Annie Hall for the Twitter generation, or a rom-com for people who genuinely hate rom-coms. While it may not have the putridly glossy veneer of Sex and the City, the film ultimately shoots itself in the foot by being too kooky for its own good, and too structurally self-conscious to feel genuine. While there are still ideas and moments which sparkle, for the most part it feels disappointingly hollow.

There's no denying that the makers of (500) Days of Summer had their hearts in the right place when setting out. In an age where cinema is increasingly and ever more cynically geared to the interests of teenage boys, romantic comedies or dramas with believable female protagonists are harder and harder to come by. The majority of contemporary romantic comedies are either predictable rehashes of stuff from the 1980s and 1990s, or vacuous vessels for product placement, offering women supposed material satisfaction in place of some more permanent form of happiness or self-esteem.

Marc Webb's film is at its strongest when it attempts to puncture that self-contained, pre-packaged form of contentment. Joseph Gordon-Levitt writes greetings cards for a living, and struggles to remain optimistic or positive about the prospect of love in generalr. In one of the film's best scenes, he stands up in the middle of a meeting and lets rip about how hollow and meaningless love and happiness have become. Our culture has become so orientated around 'events', seeing emotion as something to be conveyed through commerce, that we are losing our ability to genuinely feel affection or understand each other.

Somewhere within (500) Days of Summer, there is an edgier, more adventurous film which wants to use this premise to completely deconstruct the modern notion of love and romance. There is the potential within this material for something as scabrous and poisonous as Heathers, a ferociously funny film which ripped into the John Hughes view of high school by making you both squirm and howl with laughter. But try as he might, Webb can't seem to bring this desire to the surface for more than a few moments at a time. For all its claims of being left-field, indie-spirited and unconventional, (500) Days of Summer is structurally all too similar to the films whose clichés it claims to subvert.

The single biggest problem with the film is that its structure of shuffled timeframes doesn't work. The film occupies the same kind of ground as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, trying to depict or capture the seemingly random way in which memory works within the context of a failed romantic relationship. But where Michel Gondry used the shuffled structure with great intelligence, confounding our expectations and getting us to question our own memories, Marc Webb treats it as a gimmick, as little more than a device to distract from the conventional elements of the story.

This lack of confidence in the use of non-linear narrative is shown by the presence of a narrator. Having a narrator in any kind of story gives a feeling of certainty to the direction and outcome of the plot. This is even true of film noir, where an unreliable narrator makes us certain that we should not trust anyone. When you have a film which sells itself on being free-spirited and unpredictable, you don't want any creative element which would suggest otherwise. The narration here is as pointless as the narration in The Big Lebowski; it cheapens the experience by introducing choreography into an atmosphere of spontaneity.

In terms of the central relationship, there isn't a great deal about either Tom or Summer which hasn't been covered in some depth before. Dynamically they're very similar to the main characters in Annie Hall: Joseph Gordon-Levitt may not be as neurotic or self-hating as Woody Allen, but Zoeey Deschanel is frequently as off-the-wall (and as annoying) as Diane Keaton. The idea of the relationship being important despite the fact that boy and girl do not end up together has been handled more conclusively in several other films. I don't recall either Annie Hall or Gregory's Girl having such a clunker of a final scene.

The familiar elements of (500) Days of Summer keep coming to the fore as the film moves forward (and backward). The conversations surrounding musical taste are essentially the same as the arguments in Stephen Frears' High Fidelity, but with an indie gloss on top (in other words, substitute any other band for 'The Smiths' and you're home free). Summer may claim that romance is dead like it's a novel concept, but she is essentially playing the Billy Crystal role in When Harry Met Sally..., being the sceptical side of a relationship which treads on the edge of friendship. There's nothing wrong with making a love story with familiar scenes and plot points, but it helps if the film is happy with admitting this, rather than constantly avoiding the issue so that it can continue claiming to be original.

One of the problems with the indie genre is that it attempts to compensate for the ordinary, often dull nature of its stories with unbridled levels of kookiness. While (500) Days of Summer isn't exactly off the radar, it contains any number of moments which will send the less tolerant among us running for cover. Some of the sillier romantic scenes are funny, like Summer's quip about her high school nickname, or the couple frolicking around in Ikea and remarking that "there's a Japanese family in our bathroom". But Deschanel's impromptu singing and the drunken karaoke scenes which follow are a clear sign of the plot running out of steam. And that's not to mention the completely misjudged musical number, which is closer to High School Musical than Singing in the Rain.

The final, and most surprising, problem is the film's lack of interest in the motivations of its female character. While Tom gets his fair share of backstory about failed relationships, and those of his male workmates for comparison, we get no real indication of what has made Summer who she is, and why she behaves towards men in the way she does. One could argue that this is symptomatic of the genre as a whole, with the film becoming less of a rom-com than a bromance that happens to have girls in. But that does not excuse the lack of intrigue surrounding Summer, for which Zooey Deschanel must take some of the blame. Regardless of how underwritten she is, you cannot make us care about someone by staring doe-eyed into middle distance for two hours.

The other performances in the film are a little more promising. Joseph Gordon-Levitt has proved his action chops in Brick and Inception, and he does the best he can with a role which requires him to be constantly either in a mood or blank-faced wonder. A pre-Kick-Ass Chloe Moretz is thoroughly impressive as Tom's worldly-wise younger sister, with both actor and character having wisdom beyond their years without looking like they are trying to play younger than themselves. And Clark Gregg is convincing as Tom's boss, coming across as creepy and unsettling without going over-the-top.

(500) Days of Summer is a disappointing and deeply overrated addition to the rom-com genre. When stripped of all its hype and kookiness, it is essentially Annie Hall with shuffled timeframes, half the brains and less than half the conviction. Had Marc Webb the guts to risk being unpopular, and deconstruct the notion of modern love head on, it might have been more memorable, distinctive and enjoyable. One hopes that he will do a better job when dealing with Peter Parker.

500 Days of Yupster.

It's a VERY smooth and good-looking elaboration of "nice-guy" narcissism. The movie valorizes wounded sensitivity and the type of person who thinks s/he deserves to be liked because of WHAT s/he likes. The fanbase will note that it also criticizes the hero... except this is a hero that turns every self-criticism into its own glorious travail, to be savored before one savors the carefree aftermath. The movie is resolutely on this guy's side as it looks through life, hoping all of destiny will bow to his version of romanticism, which remains self-centered but can be fulfilled when he is able to land an artsy chick that looks like a fashion model. The writers didn't learn much from High Fidelity.

There are several good vulgar jokes. Something the movie doesn't explore is that nice-guy narcissism is often a well-developed fantasy of guys who first and foremost want to get laid. Then, they have the chutzpah to want the girl they had sex with to honor them for their good taste! Life is already hard before these guys add in their own problems; and once they do, life becomes downright distracting.

Movies (500) Days of Yupster is somehow taking from: The Lonely Guy, Bottle Rocket, 9 to 5 and a Viagra commercial.

A cleverly executed romantic comedy that firmly points out that a cliche could still remarkably amaze the watchers. Its intimate, cheerful and realistic take on life, love and moving on truly worked its way to make this film a total hit, both critical and box office.

This is by far the best and most original dramady to come out in the last few years. The first time I saw it, I fell in love and revisiting it a couple years later, it's still just as good. If you haven't seen it(and I'd ask why the hell not?!) the movie is simple, yet complicated. It's about a couple, Tom(Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Summer(Zooey Deschanel), and how their relationship evolves,then devolves, over 500 days. I love the way the story is told using different days in Summer and Tom's relationship going back and forth as it's not told in chronological order. Levitt and Deschanel are both amazing actors, and give their best performances here. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is really one of, if not the best young actor working today. He has made some very interesting film choices, and this may seem like a pretty conventional role, but he makes it feel authentic. My favorite thing about the movie though is probably the music. It has a terrific soundtrack(had to download it the day after I watched it the first time). From the Smiths, to Regina Spektor, to Hall and Oates(in the best dance scene ever), each song feels selective to the scene and helps the story immensely. This is Marc Webb's first movie as a director, and he does a fantastic job. This is a great movie that will make u laugh, make you sad, and make you hopeful. A must see for sure.

One of the best unexpected movies i've ever seen. Well done: great acting, great cinematography, great everything! This is a movie that could never get old.

The film is as much of an emotional rollercoaster as all sorts of relationships tend to be. I loved the soundtrack

There are plenty of great reasons I believe '500 Days of Summer' is an almost perfect film, a flawless romantic-comedy, and one of my favorite movies. There is the wonderful offbeat vision of Marc Webb, proving you don't need an abs-money-shot or a sex scene to make a successful romantic comedy. Hell, the movie doesn't even have to run in chronological order. There are the two great leads, who spill charisma, compatibility, and that wonderful indie charm. There is the gorgeous cinematography, which trades off beautiful shots of LA to LA being sketched in a notebook to Deschanel's sparkling eyes to Gordon-Levitt striding across a room in slow motion while rain pounds the windows behind him in the dark. There's the excellent soundtrack, that adds the perfect touch to each scene with songs of hope and heartbreak. There is a brilliant script that portrays all the beautiful and nasty emotions that come with love and the pursuit of it, and also the idea that the protagonist is far from perfect, far from understanding, and far from a hero. However, perhaps the greatest thing about this movie is its complete lack of pretense. This is the real world, and this is a real story, with real characters that display real emotion. This isn't Ashton Kutcher with his shirt off while he falls in love at first sight. This is Gordon-Levitt, one of the genre's most believable characters, as a human being, fraught with flaws, and fraught with misinterpretation about the world. Superbly entertaining, utterly unpretentious, brilliantly honest, beautifully offbeat, and fiendishly original, '500 Days of Summer' may be the best romantic comedy of its decade, and one of the bests of its genre. A pure triumph.

You'll be a better person after you watch this.

It's a remarkably stylistic, charming, wonderful film on what is an exhausted genre and formula. Despite the familiarity of these characters they are easily forgivable when such an ecstatic cast plays them. (I'm being bias, I love every single actor/actress taking part in this project.)

The process of finding love in a world where it's more than often unrequited is a theme that has rarely been directed this well with a good script to boot.

Easily goes down as a memorable Romedy.