Prepare to melt!

Rating: 8/10 (14 September 2009)

From a rather unremarkable cast, to a rather unremarkable set of trailers. At first glance, it seems like director Marc Webb went into the 500 Days of Summer project rather half-heartedly and without fully understanding just how to market a big summer rom-com.
However, woe-betide you if from these rather uninspiring first impressions, you decide not to see it. You may just be missing one of the finest moments of cinema this year.
Zooey Deschanel (The Happening) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Halloween H20) star in this wonderful and uplifting tale of a man's journey through the pleasure and of course pains of love and dating.
The artistic flair in Webb's direction may, at first be confusing to some, but settle in with popcorn and a cold drink and it soon becomes apparent just how the film is made; making it an unconventional but thoroughly enjoyable portrait of love.
The acting from the leads can only be described as lovely, in the blue corner, we have Gordon Levitt's character Tom Hansen; working in a greetings card factory, he dreams of being an architect, though those dreams seem to have outreached his grasp. He practically leaps off the screen in a soft, gooey manner, showing perhaps that men aren't as heartless as they are sometimes seen. In the red corner we have Deschanel playing Summer. Her cutesy looks and charming persona make the two actors have a wonderful chemistry, matched by only a few in the past decade.
Webb has done exceptionally well turning what could've been a formulaic love story into something interesting, original. It really is a mesmerising 95 minutes. All in all; it is practically faultless.