I'm sorry, you said this was an indie film?

Rating: 10/10 (2 February 2011)

The depth of thought and range of emotion in this movie provides the ultimate spectrum of life. The lack of chronological order reflects the scatter brained mind Tom Hansen is coping with. You remember Tom and Summer's relationship in the same manner that he does. The adjacent good times versus bad times form a comical parallel that make you laugh in a dark way.
Marc Webb's style in (500) Days of Summer is ultimately enticing and has such a unique approach that I was consistently bewildered throughout the course of watching this film. The split frame of "reality" versus "expectations" enthralls even men who hate romantic movies and touches on a very personal level with anyone who ever had an expectation that was soon crushed by reality. I envy Marc Webb for his creativity and his brilliant execution of this movie.
Anyone who claims Summer Finn to be a heartless, terrible person is an imbecile. In an interview, Zooey Deschanel said that the movie was about "the person before the person you're meant to be with." And we're not all Paul who date the same girl since 7th grade, the majority of us kiss a few frogs before we find our prince. Unfortunately, Marc Webb makes every girl with a beating heart fall in love with Tom Hansen (and Joseph Gordon-Levitt along with it), so when he is just a frog and not a prince to Summer Finn- you hate her. But that is the beauty of this movie. It is neither cynical nor light-hearted. It is just real. So real that the movie is inspired by a compilation of the writers, etc. personal stories.
Some movies you can watch repeatedly because they are not that good- they are just entertaining so you plop yourself on your couch and get fat over popcorn while watching something you can dream about happening. Some movies- like our beloved Joseph's "Inception," are so incredibly amazing it is difficult to watch it more than once. (500) Days of Summer, however, is different. The movie is so amazing and so well done and so full of life and humor and depression that you can watch it as many times you want and never grow weary of it. And that is why it is my favorite movie. That is why it is my inspiration. That is why you should watch every day until you love every character, even the Chinese family in the bathroom. And that is why you would never know that this movie is a Sundance Film Festival selection.