Falling In Love Is Hard To Do
****THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS****
- When the narrator first reads those words off to us, I was expecting him to be proved wrong by the end of the film. Love prevails - come on! But boy was I wrong - and boy was I happy to be wrong: (500) Days Of Summer (2009) really hit me between the eyes, emotionally speaking; an entertaining and moving story about the relationship between Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Summer (Zooey Deschannel) as well as all-encompassing ideas of the nature of love.
Marc Webb's feature-length directorial debut is marked with outside-the-box style film-making and Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber's screenplay is wonderful - but the film could not be what it is without the stellar lead performances from Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel, who are the keepers of the film's heart. If Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel are the heart, than the film's soundtrack is the soul - a hodgepodge of quirky and emotive modern alternative tunes that really heighten the emotion level of each scene.
The cast is marvelous and the entire movie is good but the greatest aspect about (500) Days Of Summer that really got to me was the degree in which I was able to personally relate to it. The film really speaks to relationships in a very realistic way that I connected to - not necessarily because I could relate verbatim to every scene in the film but, especially as a guy, I certainly related to the pain, happiness, and everything else that Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Tom character had to go through during his relationship with Summer. Sometimes love only goes one way - and that is OK; it might hurt but it is life.
A great service would be done to the entire genre if more romantic comedies had more in common with (500) Days Of Summer.
CBC Rating: 8/10
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