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Fun and warmth keep angst at bay...
> (500) Days of Summer
Director: Marc Webb
Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel, Geoffrey Arend, Chloe Moretz, Matthew Gray Gubler.
Rating: (M)
4 stars (out of 5)
Review by Christine Powley.
(500) Days of Summer (Rialto and Hoyts) tells us straight up that this is not a love story.
Instead, we get boy meets girl, boy falls in love, girl doesn't.
We are also told that Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a hopeless romantic because of an early attachment to gloomy British pop songs and a total misunderstanding about the real meaning of The Graduate.
Tom is initially smitten by Summer (Zooey Deschanel) because she looks good, but he becomes hopelessly addicted to her after she sings a Smiths song to him.
The only hitch is that Summerjust wants to be friends.
Mostly, (500) Days of Summer manages to treat this story fairly and keep us amused. We see things from love-struck Tom's perspective as he obsessively goes over all the clues from the 500 days he was in love with Summer. He is convinced that if only he could puzzle it out he could win her back.
Laid out, (500) Days of Summer sounds a real downer but actually it is funny and warm. First-time director Marc Webb has a background in music videos and this shows in short choppy scenes and overlaid animations which all helps to keep the angst at bay.
Best thing: The two leads look good enough together for you to want things to work out for them even as you fully realise that Summer is not the soul mate that Tom has inflated her into.
Worst thing: John Hughes used to do exactly the same plots in the '80s using Molly Ringwald and Andrew McCarthy but they were playing high school kids not twenty something professionals.
See it with: The person you are not really dating.