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| FILM DETAILS | Certificate
12A | | Cast
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Zooey Deschanel. | | Directors
Marc Webb. | | Screenwriters
Scott Neustadter
Michael H Weber. | | Running Time
95 minutes |
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500 Days of Summer (12A) Plot
Tom (Gordon Levitt) falls in love with Summer (Deschanel) but things don't go quite according to the romantic dream he has in mind.Review
(500) Days Of Summer is the cinematic equivalent of a song. If you want to get specific, it’s the cinematic equivalent of a Belle And Sebastian song: self-consciously quirky, certainly, but wry, winning and full of irresistible hooks.
What (500) Days feels like is a compilation of conversations and bits that would fall through the gaps in a traditional rom-com. Eschewing meet-cutes (this couple meet boringly at work) and last-gasp dashes to the airport, it is a film about the thrill of realising the girl you fancy loves the same band (in this case, The Smiths), the joy of making trips to Ikea magical adventures or the hollowness of going out on dates when you’re still pining for your ex. Yet, like a warm ’n’ fuzzy Memento, it scoots through these moments in a fizzy, random discontinuity, butting the good times against the painful memories, gaining emotional mileage as each informs the other.
Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber’s sparky, ingeniously structured screenplay is given maximum pizzazz by pop promo director Webb, throwing in a joyous dance number to celebrate Tom’s (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) first night with Summer (Zooey Deschanel) or a clever splitscreen to show the expectation vs. the reality when Tom tries to woo Summer back. Not all of it works — an omniscient narrator is introduced then forgotten about, Tom has a wise-acre kid sister (Chloë Moretz) doing the Wisdom Beyond Her Years thing — but there is so much beguiling playfulness that, if something falls flat, there is always a great Han Solo gag or Fellini parody just around the corner.
Standing up for the foolishly romantic, the charming Gordon-Levitt registers every ounce of hope, joy and angst beneath his geeky demeanour. In the guardedly romantic camp, Deschanel has done the enigmatic space cadet before — see Yes Man and Gigantic — but gives it a melancholy twist.
It is, perhaps, ultimately too smart-aleck to have real emotional wallop. You wish that the film would give Summer the same TLC it lavishes on Tom, and the film has a last-gasp gag that feels pat at the end of something that previously felt something like love itself: gloriously unpredictable, effortlessly fresh and, at its best, leaves you high as a kite.
Verdict
Perfectly played, simultaneously serious and light, endlessly inventive, this is a strong contender for the most original date movie of the year. (Terrific) stuff.
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Average user rating for 500 Days of Summer
| Nice.... | | | Cute, smart and truly entertaining. Definitly one of the best "rom com's " I have ever seen.
The structure of the movie, for once actually served the story instead of hinder it! With a neat and funny script, the emotion of the movie felt real, leaving you feeling happy when its over, but also mindful.
The characters were actually very relatable, with a cute sense of quirky and interesting!! It was nice to see that it didnt play on the schmaltz side of romance, but the actually d... Read More
| | | sagent33 About me | | 11:30, 10 October 2009 | Report This Post | |
| | | | RE: 500 Days of Summer | | A truely enjoyable, warm and affecting film. At times it gets a bit too quirky for its own good and this won't be to everyone's taste but I thoroughly enjoyed this. It has a brilliant soundtrack as well.
Being neither a rom-com or a love story (as the voice over tells us), (500) Days still manages to include staples of both genres and, whilst it doesn't turn convention on it's head, it does manage to take a sideways look at a modern romance. It felt like the typical... Read More
| | | Gazdance About me | | 17:29, 24 September 2009 | Report This Post | |
| | | | RE: 500 Days of Summer | | Good little film this, a good example of a hidden gem; didn't do well at the cinema but will probably do will through dvd sales, finding a small but devoted folowing.
The soundtrack is also excellent, and obviously has been constructed by someone with a well stocked cd rack (i.e. rather like mine).
People rightly point out things such as the annoying sister, summers quirkiness, the visual effects flourishes, the ending, the non-chronological order timeline etc, however, all of these ... Read More
| | | spamandham About me | | 00:14, 21 September 2009 | Report This Post | |
| | | | Most Annoying Film of the Year so far | | | There's fun and offbeat, and there's just lazily kooky. (500) Days of Summer falls firmly into the latter category. Tom is an irritatingly wet character whose reliance on his precocious younger sister for relationship advice would make him the most emotionally immature character in the film, were it not for his incredibly annoying and one-dimensional friends; Summer is pretty blank as a character and there is not much to even engage with, let alone like, about either of them.
Tom hates his jo... Read More
| | | Davechoc About me | | 18:48, 20 September 2009 | Report This Post | |
| | | | RE: 500 Days of Summer | | | L: Wilbert
Also, has Zooey Deschanel got it in her contract that she has to sing in every film she's in?
he exact same thing occurred to me inally got round to watching it this morning and while I enjoyed it I don't think I found it as charming as most on here. Deschanels vacant glassy-eyed expressions just don't cut it for me, and the soundtrack tried too hard to be cool.
Still beats the crap out of Juno though.
EDIT: Any film that includes a group dance number ... Read More
| | | superdan About me | | 14:11, 16 September 2009 | Report This Post | |
| | | | RE: 500 Days of Summer | | Ok show of hands, I want to know who gets the most out of this film, I want a boy and girl divide here. Is this a boys rom com or a girly rom com.
I loved it, I am a guy. But then I am a damaged guy.
... Read More
| | | MOnkeyboy1138 About me | | 13:41, 14 September 2009 | Report This Post | |
| | | | RE: 500 Days of Summer | | | Saw this movie today, and i absolutely loved it!
Will definitely be buying the soundtrack and dvd!
... Read More
| | | LilyT08 About me | | 22:56, 13 September 2009 | Report This Post | |
| | | | The first RomCom I've enjoyed since Love Actually... | | | s beautifully done, full to the brim of fresh ideas that counteract your run-of-the-mill RomCom. Gordon-Levitt was perfect for the role of the hapless romantic, the dialogue was witty and engaging, the audience finds itsself drinking in every word. The smile never left my face, or my girlfriend's (yes, I went to see a RomCom with my girlfriend, sue me for unoriginality). The cinematography was a supreme mismatch of sepia-cast shots, the rather brilliant "Expectations" and "Reality... Read More
| | | Jayk2912 About me | | 09:53, 12 September 2009 | Report This Post | |
| | | | Enjoyed the film... | | | But this video is better: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtVh8kVZ_XM ... Read More
| | | weemarty1984 About me | | 23:33, 08 September 2009 | Report This Post | |
| | | | Summers Well Gone !!!!...... | | | Not the most original rom-com I've seen, but it does have its moments, but overall, it was a bit of a boring Film really, and just seemed to go through the motions at times, although it was interesting to see it from the Guys point of view, and how he felt....... ... Read More
| | | n13roy About me | | 19:41, 08 September 2009 | Report This Post | |
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