One of the tag lines for (500) Days of Summer is “Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl doesn't”. In terms of a Hollywood pitch that’s hardly a classic, and you’d wonder what else happens over the 90 minute running time to develop such a statement. Well, in 500 Days you get comedy, romance and drama, all done to a competent and entertaining level. In the film Joseph Gordon-Levitt start as Tom Hansen, a bright but unfulfilled employee of a greetings card company. When new girl in town Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel) joins the same firm they eventually begin a relationship (500 days worth. Duh). We then follow their “romance” throughout the course of the film, time jumping from one random day to another. This is a well written little film and perfectly encapsulates the highs and lows of young love. Though, in this case, the love is only going in one direction. On this note, director Marc Webb does well not to demonise Summer as some sort of feelings free ice maiden. As the love less Summer, the acquired taste that is Deschanel offers us a necessarily restrained performance, but it’s Gordon-Levitt who excels as the hang dog Tom. The time jumping device works well and the wry and amusing screenplay provokes moments of sadness, tenderness and hilarity. Overall, this is an original look at the recently over subscribed relationship genre and a film that both sexes can enjoy and relate too.
The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
Great stuff here. A bittersweet approach to a somewhat tired format mixes effortlessly with a perfect balance between sighs, ahs and laughs. Rating: 8/10.
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