"500 Days of Summer"----"I have no jobs!" and that's why I write reviews :)
After "Across the Universe," I said to myself I would never be sold on a movie by the trailer. But after I first saw the trailer for "500 Days of Summer," a few months back I really wanted to see the movie. I'm a sucker for romantic comedies and this one looked really interesting and they even used a wolfmother song for the trailer. So I was kinda sold from the get go. Did I get bamboozled again or did "500 Days of Summer" offer a much needed reprieve during this summer of lame movies.
The movie is about Tom Hanson (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and the 500 day span after the first time he meets Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel) and falls in love. The movie shows the evolution of their relationship and the inevitable break up and the aftermath. The plot is pretty simple but the way the story is told is really clever.
The movie chooses not to tell the story chronologically but rather jumps around from different days during the 500 day period. There are a lot of times when scenes are juxtaposed with happy and sad one. Just by explaining it it would sound like the story would be hard to follow because of all the jumping around but that's hardly the case. The non chronological way of telling the story works really well and actually enhances the movie as opposed to a chronological telling of the story. I'm sure there have been other movies that choose to tell their story in this manner but I think "500 Days of Summer" does a really good job with it.
I really loved that the movie wasn't pretentious. It never took itself too seriously. I mean they had a big dance number for one of the scenes. It was probably one of my favorite dance numbers in a movie in a long time. The last one I really liked was the one in "Clerks 2." But I digress. The movie felt really genuine. You know what I mean? Like in a lot of movies, romantic comedies are especially guilty of this, but a lot of situations seem contrived. However in 500 days the situations seem to come about naturally. I feel like this is a combination of Deschanel and Gordon-Levitt just have a good chemistry and because of the rather good writing.
The writing was really natural. The dialogue for the movie flowed really well and was peppered with just the appropriate amounts of awkward silence and comedy. You really have to applaud the script written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber. There's this one scene that takes place in an Ikea that is just amazing. It's really cute but still stays genuine without going over the top. There are some moments with artsy elements but they too seem to fit perfectly with the movie.
I really liked the soundtrack of the movie as well. There are a couple of songs that are over used in movies but aside from there was a diverse number of tracks. They all fit really well with the tone of the scene they were used in. I guess that's why they were picked, duh. But they work really well.
I don't know what else I can really say. If you can't tell yet, I absolutely loved the movie. It was the first movie that I can remember where I got home and immediately wanted to see it again. The only reason I can see people disliking it is that it isn't quite as happy as romantic comedies usually are. Aside from that the movie has become my favorite of the genre. Displacing my old favorite "Serendipity," which was full of contrived situations but that was the point of the movie. I mean come on look at the title.
"500 Days of Summer" is going to be getting a wider opening this weekend and I would highly recommend going out to see it. If you have to see Joseph Gordon-Levitt this weekend go see him as Tom Hanson and not Cobra Commander in "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra." I heard the later is a really awful movie. But that is just hearsay. But I mean there is going to be no advanced screening for reviewers so that's never a good sign. Don't waste your money on the big Hollywood action blockbuster. Instead go see "500 Days of Summer." Seriously it's a great movie if you like the genre.
The movie is about Tom Hanson (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and the 500 day span after the first time he meets Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel) and falls in love. The movie shows the evolution of their relationship and the inevitable break up and the aftermath. The plot is pretty simple but the way the story is told is really clever.
The movie chooses not to tell the story chronologically but rather jumps around from different days during the 500 day period. There are a lot of times when scenes are juxtaposed with happy and sad one. Just by explaining it it would sound like the story would be hard to follow because of all the jumping around but that's hardly the case. The non chronological way of telling the story works really well and actually enhances the movie as opposed to a chronological telling of the story. I'm sure there have been other movies that choose to tell their story in this manner but I think "500 Days of Summer" does a really good job with it.
I really loved that the movie wasn't pretentious. It never took itself too seriously. I mean they had a big dance number for one of the scenes. It was probably one of my favorite dance numbers in a movie in a long time. The last one I really liked was the one in "Clerks 2." But I digress. The movie felt really genuine. You know what I mean? Like in a lot of movies, romantic comedies are especially guilty of this, but a lot of situations seem contrived. However in 500 days the situations seem to come about naturally. I feel like this is a combination of Deschanel and Gordon-Levitt just have a good chemistry and because of the rather good writing.
The writing was really natural. The dialogue for the movie flowed really well and was peppered with just the appropriate amounts of awkward silence and comedy. You really have to applaud the script written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber. There's this one scene that takes place in an Ikea that is just amazing. It's really cute but still stays genuine without going over the top. There are some moments with artsy elements but they too seem to fit perfectly with the movie.
I really liked the soundtrack of the movie as well. There are a couple of songs that are over used in movies but aside from there was a diverse number of tracks. They all fit really well with the tone of the scene they were used in. I guess that's why they were picked, duh. But they work really well.
I don't know what else I can really say. If you can't tell yet, I absolutely loved the movie. It was the first movie that I can remember where I got home and immediately wanted to see it again. The only reason I can see people disliking it is that it isn't quite as happy as romantic comedies usually are. Aside from that the movie has become my favorite of the genre. Displacing my old favorite "Serendipity," which was full of contrived situations but that was the point of the movie. I mean come on look at the title.
"500 Days of Summer" is going to be getting a wider opening this weekend and I would highly recommend going out to see it. If you have to see Joseph Gordon-Levitt this weekend go see him as Tom Hanson and not Cobra Commander in "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra." I heard the later is a really awful movie. But that is just hearsay. But I mean there is going to be no advanced screening for reviewers so that's never a good sign. Don't waste your money on the big Hollywood action blockbuster. Instead go see "500 Days of Summer." Seriously it's a great movie if you like the genre.
Comments
I've realized it's so much harder to write a review for something that I really loved as opposed to something I hated. Guess that shows how complicated love is :p