Review - 500 Days of Summer

'This is not a love story, this is a story about love'. Its rare that a tag line really summarises the feeling of a film accurately but this line describes this film perfectly. Our hero and hopeless Romantic Tom(Gordon Levitt)works in a greeting cards company writing slogans. Growing up with the messages of Joy Division and The Smiths Tom believes there is a one true love for every person and when free-spirit Summer (Zoe Deschanel) joins the company as his bosses new secretary they bond over music and start what can only be described as a romantic entanglement.

Pros:

- Gordon Levitt is extremely likeable as Tom playing a character that any guy can relate to and any girl can feel sympathy for
- Good soundtrack featuring tracks by The Smiths, Regina Spektor, Doves, Feist and a variety of other alternative hits.
- Mark Webb provides us with some very nice shots and transitions
- The films non-chronological timeline keeps you interested and avoids the common rom-com predictablity
- By eschewing the stereotypical storyline about unrequited love becoming requited and everyone living happily ever after, the film gets to takes a fresh look at what happens after the initial sparks
- Zoe Deschanel is very very pretty

Cons:

- Although initially likeable as an always in a good mood free-spirit, Summers indecisiveness can prove frustrating and doesn't leave you with much sympathy for the character
- By revealing the end at the beginning the film suffers from a lack of a climax and fizzles out rather than bangs
- Not necessarily a major con as the film is most definitely based on the story of the two main characters but I felt like some of the supporting characters could have done with a bit more fleshing out


It seems that unconventional indie romantic comedies have been popping up a lot more recently and with that one could expect a lapse in quality however 500 Days of Summer strives to keep the bar high and succeeds. It portrays all stages of a relationship perfectly from the naiveity and innocence of the new couple right down to the bikering and petty fighting of a pairing whose sun has already set. As is the case with most romantic comedies it may not leave you with much food for thought, but at least it leaves you with a smile on your face.

Score: 4 out of 5

If You Enjoyed: Nick and Norah's infinite playlist, Juno, High Fidelity, Almost Famous