Enjoyable and Cutesy Growing Pains

Rating: 8/10 (20 November 2010)

Clever, melancholy, and heartfelt, "500 Days of Summer" is an enjoyable romance and voyage into something many people have experienced and can relate to first-hand: heartbreak. It features a fairly simple story that employs the non-linear style of jumping days around to keep the narrative off-base a bit. The story would've been fine either way thanks to Joseph Gordon-Hewitt. His seriousness as in most his movies helps build tension, and makes it easier to empathize what his character is going through. I enjoyed the backgrounds and interests of the various characters and the interesting side-stories at the Greeting Card Office. As with too many movies these days, music gets overused, but luckily it doesn't get too folksy, the genre that really becomes disagreeable for my tastes. Nonetheless the movie runs a brisk 90 min or so, but still feels sufficiently introspective. Recommended.