Summer and not enough Smoke

Rating: 7/10 (7 August 2009)

Okay, alright already. Love story or not "500 Days of Summer" is an amiable portrait of a complex relationship between two adorable people. Dechanel as Summer and Levitt as Tom play well together. Their charming performances manage to overcome a screenplay that has a flaw or two.
The greeting card company as background could have used a bit more research -- I didn't believe for a moment that it could have thrived in a prime downtown LA address. The product it created was completely uninspired, even so much so as to seem pointless. Too bad, really, because Tom's Act IV epiphany confronts the idea of sacharrine sentiment and contrived expressions as substitutes for real human emotion.
I appreciated that Tom's tween sister was an old soul, but many of her scenes were too hip, too snarky. I wish someone would write a memo explaining that it's not necessarily comic when seniors and juniors use profanity. Copy it to every filmmaker on the planet.
Favorite scenes included the wacky IKEA store, the karaoke bar, with quirky moments throughout most of the film. The stylization using graphics and flashbacks was interesting. I relished the huge dance production number complete with marching band and old-style animation.
I understand that "500 Days of Summer" was trying to capture some of the whimsy associated with the romantic comedies of the 60's, but the narrator's voice-overs were annoying.
The film is good enough, but frankly, I was hoping for more.