Accurate and heartfelt, falling in love with (500) Days of Summer is easy to do.

Rating: 8/10 (25 August 2009)

Refreshingly honest and painfully accurate, (500) Days of Summer takes us on a journey that many of us know all too well, that of love gone wrong. As potentially depressing as this premise sounds, director Marc Webb manages to find a beautiful balance between the agonizing lows and giddy highs of love (and the lack thereof) to leave us feeling not depressed as if constantly regretting the one that got away, but satisfied that we managed to have some great times together and actually learned about life and ourselves in the process.
As the narrator says within the first few minutes of the movie, this is not a love story. Nor is it truly a comedy. At the same time though, it IS a story about love that is often funny, sometimes tragic and always heartfelt. Joseph Gordon Levitt plays Tom Hansen, a hopeless romantic who believes that true happiness comes with finding the one person in the whole world he is meant to spend his life with. When he meets the enigmatic Summer Finn, played by Zooey Deschanel, Tom soon feels that he has finally met his one true love. Is it fate that Tom and Summer are destined to be together or is fate just an idea manufactured by greeting card companies and the entertainment industry in order to cash in on our apparent need for a happy ending? For that matter is true love anything more than an illusion, a fleeting emotion that fades as quickly as it appears leaving us wondering if it was ever really there at all?
Summer certainly doesn't believe in love. Near the beginning of the film we are taken to a little over halfway through the 500 days that make up the time frame of the story and watch as Tom's heart is shattered as Summer reveals that she doesn't think the two should see each other any more and says those insidious words that have crushed the hopes of countless young men... "You're still my best friend!"
The remainder of the movie unfolds as if we are in Tom's mind, jumping back and forth through the 500 days trying to piece together what went wrong and thinking of what can be done to make it right. The entirety of their relationship is seen through Tom's eyes and it really does feel like you're in someone's head as they're dealing with a freshly ended relationship. At first he remembers the good times, the day they met, their first date, their first kiss. All of this reminiscing only makes the reality of the situation worse as we can see the signals that he's either missed or ignored along the way, some subtle like a sideways glance or an awkward pause, others blatant like Summer telling him point blank early on that she's not looking for anything more than friendship. Is there any hope of reconnecting with Summer and creating a happy Hollywood ending?
Tom's dilemma is sure to strike a nerve with not only all of us hopelessly romantic guys out there, but anyone, male or female, who has ever been sure of what you want but wanted more than what someone was willing to give. On the flip side, many can probably also relate to Summer who's not sure of what she's looking for but might one day be surprised to find that what she wants wasn't what she thought it would be.
Both Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon Levitt give fantastically true and subtle performances. Just like any guy falling head over heels for a girl Tom blows certain actions (or inactions) out of proportion to often comedic effect, seeing missed opportunities where there might not be any and seeing deep meaning where there might just be coincidence. Levitt plays it so real though that when Tom is happy you feel his joy and when he's not you feel his anguish. Summer is mostly seen as a thing of mystery and Deschanel plays this perfectly, her reserved demeanor hiding most of what is going on in her head and heart. Instead we can best decipher her feelings through her actions like pulling her hand away from Tom's or her silence and changes in attitude. It's heartbreaking watching Tom try to recapture the feeling of the early days of the relationship knowing that he's on a sinking ship.
At the end of the 500 days everyone has learned from their experiences and has grown as a person... this includes the audience. At its best (500) Days of Summer is a cathartic release for anyone who is falling or has ever fallen in or out of love (or thought they had) and leaves you with a bittersweet hopefulness for the next time love sneaks up on you. At its worst this film is a quirky take on a timeless tale with enough genuine laughs and unique direction to make it enjoyable for all but the most jaded movie goer. Like the one that got away, I'll remember (500) Days of Summer fondly both for the joy it brought me in the good times and the things I learned in the bad.