(500) Days of Summer
Directed by: Marc Webb
Written by: Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel, Clark Gregg, Geoffrey Arend, Matthew Gray Gubler

The term “romantic comedy” is not particularly well-regarded nowadays, thanks to years of formulaic and sappy love stories manufactured specifically as light entertainment for couples who are out on a date. But movies about relationships don’t always have to be cheesy and predictable. Take Marc Webb’s directorial debut, (500) Days of Summer, for instance. It’s an amusing movie about falling in and out of love that certainly doesn’t play by the rules of your standard rom-com.

The movie has a unique take on the life cycle of love, jumping back and forth through time to examine the various stages of a relationship removed from their chronological sequence. It’s a clever and intriguing concept, and one that is supported by two fantastic actors. Unfortunately, as daring as this movie is, it’s hard to shake the feeling that there is another set of rules that it is catering to instead: the art house indie dramedy.

The title, (500) Days of Summer, comes from the name of the girl in the film, played by Zooey Deschanel, and the 500 day period during which she is a part of the main character’s life. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Tom Hansen, an architect working a crappy job at a greeting card company who becomes smitten by the new intern, Summer Finn. After some awkward attempts to catch her attention, he eventually wins her over and they have a whirlwind romance. Before long, however, the tide changes, and Summer starts to wonder if Tom is really the right man for her, which sends Tom spiraling into depression.

(500) Days of Summer is reminiscent of both Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in that it dissects the progression of a relationship (albeit over a much shorter time span). In this case, however, there is no science-fiction element to facilitate the movement through time. It is merely a storytelling technique presented for the benefit of the audience, with an omniscient narrator to guide them through it. The narration itself seems to set this up as a fable of sorts, which keeps it lighthearted and cute, but it also keeps the emotional impact of what we are seeing at arm’s length. While the constant jumping through time seems like a great idea, I don’t know that it was really used to its fullest potential here. For the most part, the snapshots seem random, and don’t always connect that well with each other.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is one of my favourite up and coming actors working today, and while his forthcoming mainstream appearance in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra seems ill-advised, this is a great role for him and another strong performance. He manages to ride the line between comedy and drama quite well, and at certain points reaches back to the hyper-reality of his role in 10 Things I Hate About You. Zooey Deschanel is also as alluring and enchanting as ever, but the problem is that she has played this same ditzy girl a little too often lately (Gigantic, Weeds, The Happening). Her character is never really fleshed out all that well, but I suppose since the movie is from the point of view of Tom, the decision was made to keep her somewhat mysterious.

Individual scenes in this movie stand out as being brilliant, such as Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s song and dance sequence after their first night spent together, the black and white art house film dream sequence, and the use of a split screen to contrast “expectations” with “reality”. Marc Webb has made a name for himself as a music video director, and with the help of the beautiful cinematography by Eric Steelberg (Juno), each of these could have made awesome short films on their own. Strangely, I had just watched Woody Allen’s Annie Hall for the first time about a week before I saw this, and it clearly must have been an inspiration for some of these surreal moments.

Now, there is one thing in this movie deserves a bit of a minor rant. Can we please, please, PLEASE have a moratorium on name-dropping bands in indie dramedies for a while? Hey I’ve got nothing against The Smiths, and they seem to suit the tone of the film just fine, but the scene in the elevator and the subsequent referencing of the band just felt so contrived. This is not to say that people don’t bond over common interests, but between this and Jo-Go Levitt singing karaoke to The Pixies and the discussion over who their favourite Beatles are, it really gets into Diablo Cody territory here. And yes, I realize that Zooey Deschanel is in a band herself, but if Tom and Summer were at least set up as a music lovers from the start, it wouldn’t have seemed so superficial and out of place. I’m all for good music in movies, but you don’t have to draw so much attention to it.

In the end, while I didn’t think the overall package was particularly groundbreaking, I did appreciate a lot of the bits and pieces that made up (500) Days of Summer. It’s not absolutely hilarious, and it’s not really a tearjerker either, but it is cute and enjoyable, and certainly worth checking out — particularly if you’re suffering from the summer blockbuster blues. It’s a solid debut for Marc Webb, and while it does fall into the unfortunate category of “romantic comedy”, it’s a movie that works quite hard at defying your expectations of said category. — Sean

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Recommended If You Like: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Gigantic, Annie Hall, Garden State