Is there anything worst than being in love with someone & having them say-“ I really, really like you, but I am not in love with you…I want us to be good friends”? I was once mortified to be in this situation, which is why despite this being a very heterosexual film (a few lesbian jokes & straight guys saying- “That’s gay”), I was still able to relate to to & be moved by this quirky little indie that the Husband & I watched “On Demand” from the evil Comcast- 500 Days Of Summer.
The film begins with an on screen disclaimer, an “author’s note” declaring that what we’re about to see is not based on real people or events (punchline: someone named “Jenny Beckman” is a “bitch”); shortly after the picture starts, a deep-voiced narrator informs us: “You should know up front this is a boy meets girls story, but this is not a love story.”
Joseph Gordon-Levitt has grown into a handsome & interesting young leading man. I am definitely a fan. He plays- Tom, who works for a greeting card company where he spends his days writing sentiments for all of life’s ups and downs. His dream is to become an architect, his career as a copywriter isn’t the one he truly wants, just the one he’s settled for. Zooey Deschanel is her usual sunny, slightly goofy, vegan, hipster self as Summer. She arrives one day as his boss’s new assistant, & Tom is instantly & irreversibly smitten. Summer does not feel the same; she doesn’t even believe that love exists. Tom wins her over eventually but has to settle for a casual relationship without definition & without using then word- love. Life is beautiful for a while, but like a yummy slice of pizza or the tingly feeling I get from sipping whiskey, the good times are fleeting & not meant to last.
I didn’t just give away the film’s ending that is already spoiled in the title. The movie doesn’t play out chronologically, but instead jumps back & forth through time across the 500 days of Tom’s life with Summer. (Imagine Memento as a rom-com without murder & amnesia). Scenes of happy discovery exist right beside the couple’s break-up in a diner. The movie shows their first eye contact & first kiss next to arguments & growing disinterest. The days that make up their story may not play in order, but they succeed brilliantly in showing young love & heartache.
The structure isn’t the only thing different & fresh about 500 Days of Summer. Director Marc Webb gives the film an incredible visual style: images that shade into drawings, Tom finding himself in famous movie scenes like Bergmen’s Persona, a split screen showing the division between hopeful expectation & brutal reality, & probably the best dance number (Hall & Oates!) outside of a musical since the end of 40 Year Old Virgin. The film presents a beautiful & idealized Los Angeles with both characters having very cool apartments.
500 Days of Summer reminds me of 2 Woody Allen classic romantic comedies: Annie Hall & Manhattan. Those films recognized something that few romantic comedies acknowledge: not all romances, no matter how delicious & delirious at the start, end with everyone in the bliss of love.
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