95 minutes of magic

Rating: 9/10 (25 December 2009)

"Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl doesn't.". Starting with the tag-line, it was clear that (500) Days of Summer wasn't going to be a typical romantic comedy. In fact, this film stands out as one of the rare genuine shots in the arm said genre so desperately needs, and that it succeeds is largely due to one thing: it's not really that romantic.
As the film's co-writer Michael Weber pointed out when the film was shown at the 2009 Locarno Film Festival (on the opening night, no less), the screenplay is "loosely" based on something that happened to his creative partner Scott Neustadter - something that is hilariously mentioned right before the opening credits (a brilliant spin on the familiar "any resemblance with real events is coincidental" caption). Not that the information is essential in order to enjoy the story of Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), an aspiring architect who writes greeting cards for a living, and Summer (Zooey Deschanel), his boss's new secretary. Tom falls for her immediately, whereas she doesn't believe in true love. Despite that jarring contrast, the two actually end up together, although Summer's "allergy" to commitment is likely to cause problems...
So far, so predictable, right? How fortunate, then, that first-time director Marc Webb, aided by the writers, has decided to tell the story in non-linear fashion: the movie begins right after the break-up, and what happened before (and after) is reconstructed over the following 90 minutes. The aim is allegedly to play on the non-linearity of memory (the script jumps from day 1 to 300 or something), which allows the filmmakers to have a lot of fun movie-wise, thanks to clever editing - Tom entering an elevator happy and leaving heartbroken - and genre mixing, with the couple's conflicting views allowing for mental digressions that range from classic musicals to, of all people, Ingmar Bergman (the last time he got mentioned in a comedy was due to Woody Allen). Also, given Webb's music video pedigree, the soundtrack is very good and, unusually for a rom-com, devoid of sloppy sentiment (hello, Richard Curtis).
The other winning factor in the film is the combination of dialogue, which is smart yet real, and performances, specifically the two leads: no offense to the fine supporting cast (Clark Gregg, Chloe Moretz, Criminal Minds' Matthew Gray Gubler), but the movie wouldn't be half as charming if it weren't for Gordon-Levitt, funny and vulnerable in equal measure, and the lovely Deschanel, who gracefully charms, laughs and sings her way through the entire film. Ironically, considering the film's plot, they are a perfect couple.
(500) Days of Summer is a little film that can, and will, entertain and move audiences everywhere. It's a romantic comedy that intelligently subverts or avoids most of the genre's clichés (including the romance) without ever coming off as a smug or cynical exercise in style. It also manages to overcome the "I know how it's gonna end" obstacle beautifully, with what is arguably one of the year's best closing lines. What's not to love?