(500) Days of Summer
Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt star in a rom-com that does that rare thing: understand how love can come at you like a right hook
3 September 2009
video
Rating: 4/5
Cert: 12A, 95min
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Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel
Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl doesn’t. That twist to the indie rom-com formula is what gives this move such a surprising emotional kick. Surprising, because the set-up is what-evah: Tom (Gordon-Levitt) is a greetings-card writer, Summer (Deschanel) is the carefree new girl who breezes away with his heart.
But debut director Marc Webb randomly riffles through the 500 days of their romance, making us put the pieces together. Sounds like a gimmick, but it’s also what saves the film from cliche.
Somehow written by the men behind The Pink Panther 2, the funny, honest screenplay keeps finding tiny moments of hope in the heartbreak – and vice versa. Two sequences are just brilliant: a joyous musical number after Tom sleeps with Summer and his whole world starts singing; then a split-screen which plays out Tom’s expectation of a day next to the crushing reality.
A little cutesy and predictable, but it’s a rare movie that understands love comes at you like a left hook. You never see it coming and, boy, does it hurt.
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