Navigating the maze of modern relationships

Rating: 8/10 (14 August 2016)

My initial reaction after finishing this is "Wow! How charming!" That kind of sums up my overall feeling about 500 DAYS OF SUMMER, although the narrative turns take you through a much wider range of emotion. The basic plot is of the "boy meets girl" variety, with the "boy" being played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and the "girl," Zooey Deschanel. However, this is not your typical romantic film. Zooey Deschanel is the "Summer" of the title, and the story hops backwards and forwards through Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Summer's 500 day relationship. For starters, the broken-up chronology, although somewhat of a cliché at this point, was useful insofar as it withheld plot secrets until the right moment, regulating the stream of information toward the viewer and maintaining interest. Of course, it helps that the two leads are quite likable and have pretty good chemistry together, in that awkward, post-modern way. I also thought that the message about fate/destiny being an illusory concept rather apropos in a society that has (largely) moved beyond traditional gender roles, as the film demonstrates to a high degree. In a world where those kind of barriers come down, it can be scary and more confusing, but that's often the beauty of it as well. Without things prewritten or having to conform to a set "script," we are free to interpret events as we choose and mold our lives to the form we desire. The only cog in the film's machine is, unfortunately, Tom, who initially displays a dangerous level of complacency and hesitancy, which proves detrimental to his relationship with Summer. By contrast, Summer is a strong, but not invulnerable, female character. I really liked her, whereas Tom had to grow on me (development!). Overall, the film is certainly a shot in the arm to the well-worn romantic dramedy. There were some nice meta touches, i.e., a dance sequence, and a split-screen sequence which shows "Expectation vs. Reality." Some of the social commentary did seem a little on-the-nose, and it didn't exactly move me emotionally in the greatest way, but I laughed a lot and was constantly thinking about the message the film portrayed. So, definitely one to check out if you haven't already.