(500) Days of Summer Is Not Your Typical Romantic Comedy
I saw the movie almost two months ago at an advanced screening, and, ever since then, I've seriously been telling everyone I know that they need to go out and see this once it's in theaters. That's how much I adored it.
The film proclaims, "This is not a love story. This is a story about love," and it's right -- it's not your typical love story. Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) meets Summer (Zooey Deschanel) when she takes a job as a secretary at the company where he works an unfulfilling job as a greeting card writer. The movie then jumps around in time, juxtaposing scenes of the sweet, early days of their relationship with the miserable heartbreak Tom experiences after Summer breaks up with him.
The movie does a great job of portraying the full experience of a relationship, not just the cheesy romantic moments, and it doesn't simply stick to the typical "Boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, something comes between them, they forgive each other and live happily ever after" format so often found in romantic comedies.
(500) Days got a hugely favorable response in the theater I saw it in: when the audience wasn't loudly "Awww!"ing at an adorably romantic scene, the room was filled with enormous laughter. The soundtrack is great, the lead actors are fabulous, and, even if you're not normally a fan of the romantic comedy genre, the movie will certainly melt your heart while also making your sides hurt with laughter.
There are some scenes that are a bit odd and will make you go, "Wtf?" but, again, it's not your typical romantic comedy, so those scenes are fitting. And, okay, I'll admit that this movie is definitely geared toward females, but I think guys can get a lot of laughs out of it too.
I worry that this movie will become the next Juno, the "indie" movie that everyone thinks is super cool to love until everyone gets so sick of it that it becomes cooler to hate it, but, until then, I'm going to continue telling everyone I know to check out (500) Days of Summer, because it's awesome. I promise.
