Review - (500) Days of Summer

I'm going to tell you right from the start that (500) Days of Summer is officially my favourite film so far this year, so this review is going to be praise heavy, teetering on the verge of fanaticism. If that's acceptable then please, carry on reading, but I thought it best to tell you beforehand that I loved (500) Days Of Summer so much that to speak negatively of it would be considered a deadly sin in my eyes.

Trying to explain (500) Days Of Summer to anyone is very difficult when you have to use the words "Romantic" and "Comedy". Essentially it is a "Romcom" because its laugh-out-loud funny and it houses an element of romance, however the term "Romcom" fails to account for the heartbreak and the upset also present within the movie. The second you mention the words romantic comedy to a person, they immediately conjure images of an "opposites attract" movie starring Jennifer Aniston and Ryan Reynolds or something similar. (500) Days Of Summer is far from anything like that. It is a beautiful story told in a fantastic manner and it needs to be seen to be understood.

In (500) Days Of Summer, Tom Hansen a trained architect who currently makes his living as a greeting card copywriter very quickly finds himself head over heels in love with Summer Finn when she starts work at his company. He believes in soul mates and from the second he saw her he knew he'd found his. Summer however thinks love is the thing of fairy tales, has a very non-committal approach to partners, and thinks that life will always get in the way of a relationship in the end. Tom's pursuit of Summer pays off eventually but when she suddenly breaks up with him his life shatters around him and he needs to work out where things went wrong.

The story is told by flicking between the days in the 500 day period in which Summer and Tom knew each other, clearly identified by a number popping up on the screen to indicate where they are in their relationship.. One minute you could be watching their first kiss, the next you could be watching the day before they break-up. It is such a fantastic way of telling the story and funny/heartbreaking at the same time when a massive change in their dynamic is shown after a skip from something like Day 30 to Day 300.

There are no corny jokes in (500) Days Of Summer, no staged humour, no slapstick, it is just genuinely funny exactly as life can be at times. It is such a real movie, I forgot I was even watching fiction at times. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel are just perfect. I've met women exactly like Summer and Zooey's performance is spot-on as is Levitt's at playing a guy who is hopelessly in love with someone who just doesn't feel the same, who subsequently descends into heartbreak when she leaves him.

(500) Days of Summer wouldn't be nearly as good without the utterly brilliant soundtrack that it comes with. I've had it on loop since watching the movie and there is no sign of my love of it letting up just yet. I've even listened to the track by The Smiths depsite my utter hatred of Morrissey! Music is a massive part of this movie; It fills the life of Tom and Summer. In a lot of films, the soundtrack is ambient noise, but in this the music is key to each scene. Evidence for this can be found in the scene with "You Make My Dreams" by Hall and Oates. It is amazing and ranks up there with my favourite scenes in any movie. I won't ruin the surprise by discussing it, you are going to have to watch it.

I could honestly go on all day just talking about how much I loved this movie. There isn't a part I didn't like. It won't be everyone's cup of tea but if you want to see how a romantic comedy should really be done then you need to watch (500) Days Of Summer. I'm still thinking about it, I can't get it out of my head. I don't think there'll be a movie this year that I enjoy as much. Check it out, you won't regret it.