Romance told from the guy's point of view. And done fantastically.

Rating: 9/10 (27 June 2011)

I'll be the first to admit that I don't like Romance films; I find them to be a bit too fantastical, but in the wrong way, and extremely predictable. When I mean the wrong type of fantastical, I mean that it is an unrealistic play-through of how real life events could, in reality, occur, though only through astronomical coincidence. For example, bumping into the girl you love after you've broken up in the place you used to feed the ducks, and then doing some extreme romantic gesture, like dancing on a rooftop, to win her back etc. That doesn't click with me, because these romantic films are set in our world, our reality. The rules are established from the principal contact - this will not feature any space-monkeys, will be entirely within our realm of physics and as a result, I can't take such implausible coincidences.
We enjoy films like the Inception, The Lord of the Rings, because they take place in a world where the rules are established to beyond our capacity to understand in reality. And in that fantasy, anything can happen and suspension of disbelief does the rest. But in our world, things like that don't happen - we've all been in relationships so we know for a fact, film romance is not ever applicable, and as a result, we don't learn anything, we don't grow by travelling these characters, we're just killing time. Although you might call me stupid, saying films would be boring if they only remained within our mundane reality, I say this when taking into account the tired cliché love formula, that pretty much stays the same no matter what route you take or what spin you put on it. We know that everything will be all right in the end and the characters will kiss on a bridge with candlelight and the beautiful lit sky. Not in this film.
The film in question takes the tired formula and breaks it over its knee with some of the most inventive story-telling and camera work I've ever seen - and this is technically an independent film. The acting is superb throughout - the two leads Joseph Gorden-Levitt and Zoe Deshcanel are spectacular and their chemistry is contagious. These are not actors - these are real people. We love these people and we want to see their relationship develop.
Another rare thing for a Rom-com - it's funny. I can sit through the majority of crap with Hugh Grant and maybe chuckle a few times, this gets you laughing from the get go and then becomes serious at the appropriate moments. This is another film that I call a 'moment picture'. A film that contains these small sections in little moments that are either a stroke of genius, a powerful emotional impact, or something that just makes you euphoric watching, regardless of overall quality. These moments are memorable, and they are the parts you talk about after you've seen it. You can watch any number of films that contain no moments at all or maybe one or two - this is full of them. Combined with excellent pacing and consistent engaging content it makes this film, to me, flawless. The only reason I don't give it a 10, is because although perfect, It's not quite up there with the other films I've rated 10, but that is by no means a detriment to this film.
In short, watch it.