A bittersweet reminder that boy-meets-girl doesn't always end up as a love story.

Rating: 8/10 (3 September 2009)

She loves The Smiths. Holy ****.
Those are the words that simultaneously grace Tom Hansen's (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) synapses just as they explode into a cacophony of euphoria. Left alone to contemplate the implausibility of such a seemingly coincidental happenstance, Tom knows right there that he's in love; that's who he is—foolhardy and quick to romanticise. What he doesn't know however is that she, Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel) not only doesn't like being someone's girlfriend but that she doesn't believe in love either. Ouch. Like all determined poets however (although, here Tom is a talented aspiring architect rather than some whimsy caricature artist, which is probably for the best), Tom doesn't see how he could fail. Well, he does, but somehow there's just something about Summer that dispels the clouds and offers a ray of hope in return. Ah, poor, naïve Tom. You really can't help but feel for him.
You see, right from the opening scene of 500 Days of Summer, the narration quickly gets across that yes, this is story of boy-meets-girl, but that it is certainly not a love story, even if one of the characters tries to make it so. Rather, it's a story about love, and for all the glimmers of sweet romance and blossoming glints of that ever enigmatic force called love, the story is framed in a manner which constantly reinforces and abides by that opening statement. Told in a narrative that jumps back and forth between the beginning of Tom and Zooey's peculiar development as "friends" and some ten months later when Zooey skips town and leaves Tom hanging, 500 Days is no traditional romantic comedy. Indeed, in place of all the formulaic clichés and see-through characterisation lies a somewhat humble and down to earth portrait of a notably off-beat but nevertheless modern relationship. There's comedy, but it's never predictable or banal; there's drama, and yet it never comes off as contrived or overblown; and there's the romance that is sweet, but not sickly so.
So what you get, essentially, is a movie that surprises and yet feels conventional on the exact same page. Normally, framing a love story as something that inevitably fails is bad idea with no questions raised, however this isn't the case here. By opening the audience up to the fact that ten months down the line—or, 300 days of 500—Tom is going to be miserable once all the rushing feelings of happiness and comfort take their leave with the leaves that begin to fall from their branches at the closing of Summer's days; by opening the viewer up to this fact immediately, the audience is left to wonder "well, what is going to happen that causes that seemingly infallible partnership to wither and die?" Of course, Summer's admission is that it's just life; it's what happens, and it always does—and that is essentially the bitter truth behind much of 500 Days of Summer's first two acts.
As the movie progresses however, the central timeline which is told from Day One when Tom meets Summer where he works as a greeting card writer gradually gets closer and closer to the point where that ominous cloud of impending doom is right over Tom's head. From here, much of the story is told in a linear, "what will happen now?" fashion. Thankfully, the third act stays true to that which comes before in that it stays grounded and realistic without succumbing to predictable Hollywood staples that one expects when going into a romantic comedy. And that's not to say that the movie ends on a down-beaten note either—rather it's even more cathartic and satisfying than your average feature would indulge you with. Again, you're surprised, but at the same time more than comfortable with this change of perspective, and that's key to 500 Days' ability to feel refreshing and poignantly touching.
When it comes to casting, director Marc Webb and casting director Belasco hit the nail on the head with his two leads. Zooey Deschanel, who is fast becoming one of my favourite actresses of recent years plays a roll not at all dissimilar to much of her previous works in these genre films, but that's no coincidence at all. There's something about her eyes that just jumps off the screen with every little movement, and Webb capitalises on this at every moment possible, building up the architecture of Tom's inescapable destiny with all but the slightest glimpses in his direction from Summer. Tom Hansen has a much more complex role opposite Zooey in that he goes through many different passages throughout and has to offer the movie warmth that is notably low-key and downplayed in Deschanel's character. For the most part, he pulls it off well, yet it is in his scenes with his co-star that both really shine—so much so that when the movie's romance begins to unravel by the second act, the pity that Webb attempts to emote from the audience is palpable and as effective as it should be.
In the end however, the success of 500 Days of Summer largely comes down to the character of Tom and how he goes through one of the most defining points of his life. Refusing to dupe the viewer into a false sense of security, Neustadter and Weber's script indulges in the nuances associated with the often dubious and hopeless endeavours of looking for love with simplicity and heart-felt pathos as a pacemaker. Beating back and forth between The Smiths and Regina Skeptor, and flowing with a subtle restraint and subdued sense of reality imposed by director Marc Webb in his cinematic debut, 500 Days of Summer is a romantic comedy that exists to the viewer as a bittersweet reminder that boy-meets-girl doesn't always end up as a love story, at least, not the way you expect it to be.

A review by Jamie Robert Ward (http://www.invocus.net)