Film Review: (500) Days of Summer (Spoilers)

A comedy of manners for the 21st century, (500) Days of Summer is a real treat. It’s far from perfect, has some moments of irritating laziness in its storytelling, but the story it tells is so believable, so well plotted, and so well acted it’s worth putting its failings to one side.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is Tom, a good-looking and moderately successful twenty-something, on the look for Miss Right. To his amazement he suddenly finds her – the boss’ new PA Summer (Zooey Deschanel), but as the tag line says – boy meets girl, boy falls in love, girl doesn’t. What follows is a well-realised investigation of modern relationships – how Tom projects his dreams of the perfect girl onto Summer, how Summer sets out a completely different stall, but never really tries hard to put Tom off. We see their good times, we see their failings; we see where they should each walk away but neither has the courage to. We’re told from the outset that Summer’s the villain to Tom’s hero, but the script from early on makes it clear his failings are at least equal to hers – this isn’t a typical Hollywood love story. We’ve all had relationships like this, we all know people like Tom and Summer – to say this is a well-acted film is an understatement.

Director Marc Webb occasionally insults our intelligence with the most pointless voiceover since Blade Runner. It’s a shame he felt the need, considering the non-linear storytelling by co-writers Scott Neustadter and Michael H Weber is highly effective, and informs you a great deal about the relationship, providing some richly comic moments by comparing Tom & Summer’s blissful ‘then’ & painful ‘now’. It’s fun, it’s bittersweet and occasionally quite poignant – this is a relationship film which actually has something to say, and does so in highly entertaining fashion. Gordon-Levitt shows yet again that he really is one to watch (not to mention being quite gorgeous), that he hasn’t lost his comedy acting chops from ’3rd Rock From the Sun’, although I don’t think this role will cement him as a film-opening lead yet. Deschanel on the other hand is a powerhouse, providing a compelling and nuanced performance which must surely launch her quickly to the top of the A-List. Summer is of course never the monster which Tom needs to portray her as, and it’s regrettable that the movie takes a long time to prove why. If it could have done so earlier on, it would have given the investigation of this highly likeable (but doomed) couple much more bite.

8/10

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