reviewed by Charity Bishop
     

This is a story about love, but not a love story.

That is the warning audiences receive when venturing into (500) Days of Summer, an interesting Independent film about a young man's struggle to overcome a broken relationship.

They meet in the office. Summer (Zooey Deschanel) walks into the room as a new executive assistant at a greeting card company and stars explode around her, at least as far as Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is concerned. She likes his music, his movies, and was pretty as a picture. An eternal believer in true love, Tom knows at once that she is the one he has been waiting for his entire life... unfortunately, Summer is a practical girl scarred through memories of her parents' brutal divorce and doesn't believe in true love. Or even dating. It takes all Tom's wrangling just to get her to pay attention to him and then hang out sometimes. But just when he thinks their lives are approaching a monumental moment, Summer drops a bombshell on him: she doesn't see their relationship going anywhere and thinks they should both move on. Which apparently is easy for her, but not so much for Tom, who dwells on their unusual relationship in an attempt to figure out what went wrong.

His employers put him to writing "sympathy" greeting cards in the hope he can eventually pull out of this funk, but in spite of his friends' encouragement to remember the bad aspects of his relationship as well as the good, Tom remains convinced that Summer is the one for him... and wonders what he can do to get her back. I admit that this movie had me fooled: midway through I was certain of the outcome but was proven wrong! It takes a non-traditional approach to the genre of romantic comedy and manages to be both funny and sentimental. It has a well-written script that captures "real life" very well -- the dialog is believable rather than being forced and it made me care about these people and their relationship. The approach is a bit tongue in cheek with the intention of being amusing but is also dealing with a very serious topic -- what happens after you break up? How do you overcome your emotions and move forward with your life? The message is that they might be the right person for you, but you might not be the right person for them. It's not a very pleasant notion but is what makes the film unique and sets it apart from other titles in the genre.

Language is something of a problem with one f-word, several harsh abuses of deity (including one GD), and quite a few uses of the word s**t. On a dare, Tom and Summer sit in a crowded park and shout "penis" louder and louder until they draw everyone's attention. She later teasingly threatens to do it at a wedding. There are no graphic sex scenes, but they do some heavy kissing on a bed and the camera reveals part of her bare back. For fun, the two wander into the "adult" section of a rental store and decide to try out some of the moves they see on the film (we don't see the video but do watch a shower curtain jerking around before it falls on top of both of them). Other scenes imply she has spent the night, and sex is discussed a handful of times. Tom's friends make some crude references to breasts. There is a fair amount of drinking and several instances of intoxication.

(500) Days of Summer is a movie you will either find unsatisfying due to its unusual ending or that will tickle your fancy. I appreciate "odd" stories and so this one appealed to me on many levels. The humor is well done and the characters actually mature and change throughout, which is refreshing to see. The cast is terrific even though most of them are not very well known, and the direction and style of the project is quirky. We constantly move back and forth in the relationship timeline with the assistance of helpful notations but it is never confusing. There's even a musical number in the middle of the film, complete with animated birds and everyone on the street joining in on the fun. It's a film without classification and its themes are both memorable and charming. Essentially, the audience is left with the realization that if you do not like who you are, it is within your power to change your life if you choose. It's a powerful message.