On Saturday night after the kids went to bed, we watched (500) Days of Summer. I would classify this film as a 2009 indie offbeat romantic comedy. It probably wasn’t a true romantic comedy, as you know early on that the couple breaks up at the beginning of the film. I won’t spoil the end of the film, but by film telling you they have broken up, it changes the dynamics. The audience now has no idea the path where the story will go, or how it will end. After watching so many of these lazy paint-by-the-numbers romantic comedy films churned out by the Hollywood movie machine, it is refreshing to be surprised and not know how a story will turn out.
Joseph Gordon-Leavitt plays Tom, an aspiring/struggling architect who is currently working for a greeting card company. He meets the new hire admin asst Summer, played by Zoey Deschanel. As the film progresses, the story jumps back and forth in time (marked by a counter denoting which day of the relationship it is), but the audiences that, due to the timer, the relationship is a ticking time bomb.
The story was entertaining and fresh, the direction was well done, and acting was very good. I liked Joseph Gordon-Leavitt in this. I recommend this movie.
(500) Days of Summer (2009)