500 Days of Summer Review- Marley Coleman

Rating: 10/10 (17 September 2018)

In the drama and romance movie 500 Days of Summer, the idea of fate is communicated throughout the film. The stars of the movie Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon Levitt, show the struggles of love in the 21st century. The portrayal of lost and gained feelings gives insight to how often we in real life face challenges with love.
Throughout the movie the characters Summer Finn and Tom Hansen are in constant uncertainty with their love for one another. Tom is a hopeless romantic and a firm believer in love at first sight, he feels this instantly when he meets Summer. However Summer thinks otherwise, she informs Tom that there is no such thing as love and that it is a fantasy. Nonetheless Tom continues to pursue Summer and falls even deeper in love as they go into a dating phase. What Tom doesn't realize is that Summer doesn't love him the way he loves her, and she communicates to him multiple times that they are just friends. Tom doesn't take this rejection well and becomes depressed, leaving him to believe that Summer was right, that nothing means anything and love is just a fantasy.
Tom once said before Summer broke his heart, "I love her, I love the sound of her laugh, I love her cute knees, I love this heart shaped birthmark she has, and I love the song I hear when I'm with her." After his brutal break up, so to speak with her he repeats, "I hate Summer, I hate her hair, I hate her cackling laugh, I hate her knobby knees, I hate that splotch she calls a birthmark, and I hate this song!"
A few months later Summer invites Tom over to her place for a party and Tom's expectations exceed reality. At the party he comes to discover that Summer, whom he still loves, had recently become engaged. This breaks him down for months, until he finally gets up, quits his job, and goes on to find his passion in life. More months pass and Tom runs into Summer again, and she tells him that he was right all along about love and that it does exist. This leaves Tom bewildered and somewhat satisfied. Later that day Tom meets another woman named Autumn.
I enjoyed this movie because it explained the ups and downs of love and the very realness of fate. I also enjoyed the actors in the film, Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon Levitt, and how they conveyed the lack of love in their relationship. Tom and Summer weren't meant for eachother, they were destined to meet new people to fall in love with. Which Summer had already done and now its Tom's turn. The film shows that just because love fails once doesn't mean it always will.