Masterpiece of the Good/Bad Times of Love

Rating: Null/10 (22 August 2009)

(500) Days of Summer (2009)
**** (out of 4)
This romantic comedy is without question one of the best films of the year and will probably go down as one of the greatest films to grace the genre. It's not often I fall head over hill in love with a film from this genre but this here should be put beside ANNIE HALL in terms of its great characters and dialogue. The film tells the story of Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Summer (Zooey Deschanel), two oddball people who begin dating, which is great until he starts to fall in love and she doesn't. Most Hollywood love stories are so corny and have so much sugar on them that one can't help but get choked in all the stupidity but thankfully that doesn't ring true with this independent masterpiece that manages to be thoughtful, intelligent, funny, sad and perfect nail down the ups and downs of a relationship. ANNIE HALL is my favorite movie of all time and there's a lot of comparisons that could be made with this film. Another favorite of mine from the past decade is Kevin Smith's CHASING AMY and once again, I think the films can be compared for their leading men who go after something they can't have. What works so well with this story is how incredibly charming it is right from the start. The masterful screenplay is so perfectly written that it can jump from happy to sad times and not miss a beat. A lot of director's wouldn't be able to handle this jump and that's why so many films end up feeling uneven but director Webb handles it all perfectly well and doesn't miss a beat. Another major plus is that the performances are so excellent that you can't help but fall in love with the characters. Gordon-Levitt plays that "dork" type of character but he brings so much more to the role. His comic timing is perfect but he also manages to be very believable in the more dramatic moments and this includes a rather heartbreaking scene at the end when he finally builds up the courage to ask Summer a certain question while sitting on a park bench. Deschanel seems to have a strong cult following around her and I was never a member until this film. She is so incredible in the role that I honestly can't sit here and think of anyone who would have been better or done more with it. She is so flawless in building up her role into a real character because you could have written her off as the bad person but that never happens because we, unlike Tom, can understand her feelings and her reasons for being the way she is. This is really a film about a guy who finds happiness and expects it to last forever when the second person might not be looking that far ahead. To me the film has a lot to say about relationships, feelings and just human nature all around. The romantic-comedy is perhaps the most worn out genre in film history but ever so often a real gem comes along and (500) DAYS OF SUMMER is that gem.