Genius in it's own little way

Rating: 8/10 (24 September 2009)

This film is genius in a way I've never seen a film be before, and it's in the reality and relatability of it. Firstly, the relationship portrayed is so 'everyday'. There is no "Romeo and Juliet"-esquire complete love, or "Heartbreak Kid" style dysfunctionality, it is plain normal, and embraces that wholeheartedly. The audience is gifted to two brilliant performances that show how in the beginning of any relationship there is that unmatched fire that blinkers all other feelings and makes everything seem perfect. I applaud both the writers and the two leads for catching this unlike anything I've seen before.
Secondly, and more importantly I feel, the real genius is that I came out of the theatre feeling like the film quite easily could have been written about me. And I could tell 90% of the audience had the same feeling. There's no over-dramatisation of events, just those 'blinkers' being removed slowly throughout the film. The line ending "...I suggest you look again" is one of the most poignant I've ever heard in this genre. You don't have to have felt real pain or loss in love to understand Tom's (lead male) position; if you've ever been sent mixed messages, messed around a bit, or cannot see how to save your relationship, you connect with him. You can also relate to Summer if you have experience of a relationship where the counterpart is more keen than you. You don't know exactly how to express it, and even when you try to make yourself clear, you end up sending mixed messages and hurting the person anyway.
And it's not gender specific, another beauty of the film.Of course, we know from the tag-lines that the usual masculine and feminine roles are swapped, but they're easily interchangeable and anyone in the audience could relate to either side.
I struggle to find any other words to explain the genius in this film. I just assure you that if 100 people are in a theatre watching this, 90 of them will relate to it very strongly, and will be touched by this film. If you don't, there's a high chance you have found the 'one' with far too much ease, and so you can laugh at the rest of us anyway.
This film has so many messages, I'm quite certain I didn't catch them all, and so know I will enjoy watching it time and time again in the future and being able to relate in a different way each time. See it.