500 Days of Summer
a movie review by Heather Craig
A black screen gives way to the words, “Author’s Note : The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.” The screen changes to the words, “Especially you Jenny Beckman.” Finally, the last black screen says, “Bitch.” So begins 500 Days of Summer , whose wry narrator warns less than a minute in, “This is a story of boy meets girl, but you should know up front, it is not a love story.”
Nor is it, nor do we expect it to be with a tagline like, “Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl doesn’t.” What it is is a very creative presentation of the story of 500 day relationship, beginning with their first meeting. Our “boy” is Tom, an earnest, twenty-something who believes in true love and destiny. He majored in architecture but works at a job he doesn’t particularly enjoy, the writing of greeting cards. Our “girl” is the eponymous Summer, who is shocked that Tom believes in love, as people always let you down. She has taken this greeting card office job in Los Angeles because she was bored in Michigan and wanted a change.
Tom is played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt who is 28 and looks like he can’t legally drink. He is probably best known for playing alien teen Tommy Solomon in TV’s 3rd Rock from the Sun but came to the attention of critics as a boy investigating the disappearance of his girlfriend in Brick. Tom is a person who becomes consumed by his interests, and he is interested in Summer.
Zooey Deschanel, perhaps best known as Buddy’s girlfriend in Elf plays the aloof Summer just right. It would be easy for Summer to become basically unlikeable, as the viewer feels more and more sorry for Tom and all the varied mixed signals he receives from her, but Summer is vulnerable and a bit unsure what she wants, and in her defense she does tell Tom she doesn’t want a boyfriend, doesn’t want to be serious, doesn’t believe in love.
I heard once in a writing class that it is as much how you tell the story as the story itself, and in this one it is certainly true. The screen announces “Day 144” but the next scene may be “Day 230” or “Day 14.” It jumps back and forth in what at first seems random order, and we learn immediately that Summer breaks up with Tom. But because this happens long before day 500, we still don’t know how the movie will end, or if this couple will be together. Or even if they should be. I truly enjoyed being unable to predict just what was going to happen. How very refreshing! Other creative touches include a music video used to express Tom’s mood (a hilarious scene, much appreciated by the audience I was in), and split panels simultaneously depicting a character’s expectations versus reality.
The movie is at heart a comedy, and I laughed out loud several times, mostly due to the sheer relatability of Tom’s attempts to read into Summer’s motives or even a simple comment about how her weekend went. His sounding boards are a motley crew, his pathetic friend McKenzie who seems to know nothing about women yet nails it when he tells Summer, “You’re a dude,” Tom’s buddy Paul who has been with the same girl since junior high, and Tom’s sister Rachel, about 12, who takes time out at soccer games to listen to her lovelorn brother. All three give their opinion, and it is Rachel who takes the most practical view of the whole thing, whether Tom wants to hear it or not. Tom is over the top, but everyone knows what it is to feel so depressed or so joyous about a relationship, and the sincerity of his feelings is never in question.
I have to mention the music. I have seldom been so very aware of the soundtrack of a movie, probably because the songs are so diverse yet always correctly brought out the mood. Swinging back and forth from the Smiths’ “Please Please Please, Let me Get What I Want” to Hall and Oates’ “You Make My Dreams Come True” to Regina Specter’s “Us,” the soundtrack enhances the action in a way I seldom see (hear?).
