(500) Days of Summer

Well, I felt pretty much the same as you Adam. The film was okay, but I certainly expected more.

Love is just one of those things. It’s been the inspiration of millions of poems and songs and movies and any number of other things that it’s impossible to believe there’s any uncertainty about what exactly its all about or that there’s anything left to say on the matter. And yet people feel the need to keep taking the subject on. It seems passé; it’s been done to death, is there really anything more to contribute when it comes to love? For whatever reason, people are obviously incapable of moving on. Or I guess every generation needs to define love for themselves. “(500) Days of Summer” is the love story for the latest generation.

“(500) Days of Summer” is the story of a guy, Tom, who falls in love with the new girl at the office, Summer. They embark on a romance despite the fact that Summer does not want it to become serious, something that wasn’t clear to Tom who falls hopelessly in love. When Summer breaks it off with him, Tom then struggles to understand what went wrong and spends the rest of the film trying to get over her. Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Tom is actually great, and Zooey Deschanel who is usually quite good is only alright in this film. It might be due more to the part than to her performance. Summer is a fantasy of a girl that doesn’t exist in real life; she’s a hipster’s vision of perfection. She’s also not very interesting at all. After awhile I was just tired of the filmmaker trying to convince me of how wonderful she was, because I didn’t see it and I didn’t really care.

There is an interesting gender role reversal from usual romantic films, that is Summer doesn’t want to commit and Tom does. But there is just something about their relationship that lacks authenticity. I don’t know whether this is due to a lack of chemistry between the actors, or whether it was the filmmaker’s intent perhaps as a sign that the relationship won’t last, but it just doesn’t feel real. And the film itself while funny and original at times feels like a film I have seen before. I have a disdain for Woody Allen films that stems from a film class in which I was forced to watch every single one, but I must admit he made this movie a while ago and it was called “Annie Hall.” And while this film might be slightly better because it has a more interesting leading man, a less cynical outlook on love and is more relevant today, at the end of the day it felt like it had been done.

I really wanted to like this film a lot but I was a little disappointed. It has its moments and it has good performances and interesting things to say but ultimately it wasn’t enough. I wish it had the authenticity that a film like “Away We Go” had in terms of what real relationships are like, but while this film is not perfect it may still be worth your time. A lot of young people are going to really like this film for their own reasons, it might be the film that defines love for a generation, but at the end of the day it doesn’t leave any lasting impressions. I guess I would recommend it, but temper your expectations.