More than just a worthy successor to High Fidelity

Rating: 10/10 (16 February 2012)

Reviewing my favorite movie of all time is insanely challenging. Mostly because I don't know what to write about and how much to leave for you to find out. Anyway, I will give it a try simply because this is an amazing movie and shockingly few people have even heard about it. I feel morally obligated to do this! Synopsis : Tom Hansen, played by JGL, is a greeting card writer and is convinced that there is a difference between believing in true love and Santa Claus. Summer Finn, played by Zooey, joins the greeting card company and hits it off with Tom. In between songs performed by Simon & Garfunkel, The Smiths, Regina Spektor and even Carla Bruni, Tom lives through 500 days, some with and some without Summer. No spoilers here since the film's tagline itself reads out, "Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl Doesn't".
What's Good : Right during the film's opening, the narrator sets up the intrigue by clarifying, "This is a movie about Boy meets Girl. But you should know upfront – this is not a love story." The movie does not always move in chronological order, which is a very clever screenplay device for portraying pre and post-Summer Tom. The leads are charming and very convincing as twenty-somethings not sure of what they're looking for in life, or love. Their characters are disarmingly likable, have their endearing quirks – and I will go out on a limb and say that its impossible to not fall in love with them. Also of note is the music featured throughout the movie – mostly 60s and 70s British pop but also newer, little known bands like Mumm-Ra, Doves and Temper Trap. Oh and there's also an amazingly choreographed little dance number on JGL.
Whats not : Tom's younger sister, played by, Chloe Grace Moretz plays on the wise-beyond-her-years cliché for far too long.
There are many things unique to this movie. This, to me, was the most humorous movie of the last 5 years and yet it didn't seem forced like The Hangover. And yet, before the climax its hard to not feel for Tom. There are also a couple of scenes (one being "expectations v/s reality") which portray things each one of us goes through everyday and its amazing how well its been played out in the movie.
It has a lot of similarities with High Fidelity (break-up movie, 70s music, hero is interested in architecture etc), which is another stupendous rom-com but this one's more grown-up and subtle.
Verdict : You will either really like it or you may really hate it :) My Rating : 10/10