500 Days of Summer

Rating: 9/10 (30 September 2013)

500 Days of Summer is a movie worth watching because it doesn't feed you the run of the mill pseudo love story that you would expect to see. This movie, starring Zooey Deschanel as Summer and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Tom, tells us the story of a boy who falls madly in love with a girl who claims to not believe in relationships, but does a less than convincing job at showing us that, based on the way she interacts with Tom. 500 Days of Summer takes us through a journey of the time that Tom and Summer spent together, primarily through Tom's point of view, and shows us the condition in which Summer left him when she seemingly left his life for good. The very beginning of the movie starts by clearly stating that it's not your typical love story, but if you're anything like me, you always root for the underdog. So, when this film stays true to its word, it feels like the biggest plot twist ever encountered, though it told you in a very straightforward manner that there is no happy ending here. It doesn't drag you along with false hope for too long, though. This film doesn't follow chronological order by any means, so Tom and Summer's meet-cute is followed closely by the destruction of their so called "relationship". After this point is when viewers get all of the details as to what went on during these 500 days to have produced the existing outcome.
Tom and Summer first meet when she is new to his LA office where he creates greeting cards. Tom falls in love instantly, and from that point we see his interest magnify into a sick puppy- love like obsession based on the idea of who he thinks Summer could potentially be. It's easy to identify with the way he is feeling, because when you're interested in someone, you want to believe that any common interest would make two people suitable. His puppy love only gets more and more heightened the more often he and Summer interact and establish shared interests. You can see right away that Tom is a food blinded by what he thinks is true love, which he decides is real based on minute details, like both of them enjoying The Smiths. Soon, Tom is so sick in love that is practically spills out of his mouth when he talks about her to his friends, who are trying to protect Tom and look out for his best interest. But, as most people in Tom's state of adoration, he is hard-headed and has to learn for himself. Summer takes everything that Tom says to her with a grain of salt, because she refuses to believe in love, claiming it's a "fantasy". She has a certain charm to her that she unsuccessfully tries to hide, which is part of why Tom can't stay away from her.
This movie couldn't have been casted with more suitable people to portray these roles, because you really do believe that they are perfect for each other. Scott Neustradter and Michael Weber deserve some recognition for writing such an exceptional script. Part of what makes this such a good movie is that unlike most movies, you can actually relate to these characters, because what they're going through is actually plausible. They don't simply decide one day that they are in love and then have blue birds singing them out of slumber every morning. It's raw and real and full of unfulfilled expectations, which is by far much more realistic and easier to relate to. It's rare to find a well-casted, well-directed film with a near perfect screenplay and a fantastic soundtrack, yet 500 Days of Summer has a way of capturing it all and still managing to portray something contrary to the typical love story.