(500) Days of Summer review

Very rare is it that I find a true blue romance movie that is perfect or often near perfect. Seriously it's a really short list with me and it's not because I don't watch any films like this because I have watched tons. Among my absolute favorites is Judd Apatow's perverted and charming "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" (don't think it's a romance movie? Re-watch it). "High Fidelity" with John Cusack, which also has one of my favorite film soundtracks and ensemble casts of all time. And for diversities sake Tony Scott's "True Romance". Granted it's far from being an A-typical romantic film, it is still very much about a couples enduring love. It's more than a joy to say that "(500) Days of Summer" joins that small list and does reach a cosmic level of perfection in it's presentation.

In so many ways it's a simply story of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy tries to get girl back; but as it is in real life it's never that simple. Thus we jump through the 500 days between their meeting, splitting and what happens next. Perfectly casted for this is Joesph Gordon-Levitt ('Brick', 'The Lookout' and 'G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra') and Zooey Deschanel ('Elf', 'The Happening' and 'Yes Man') Tom and Summer. The two meet in a meeting where they both work, a greeting card company. Tom's a card writer and Summer is his bosses new assistant. From there they meet time and time again, signals are misinterpreted, tastes are exchanged and eventually a type of relationship is formed. I say this because Summer doesn't want something iron clad and Tom's feeling are notably different although while they're together it's rarely stated.

Impressively one of the best aspects of the film is it's ability to not make you feel awkward during the unpleasant moments, but to show them as they are. In reality sour moments in a relationship aren't usually awkward between the two people just unpleasant and disheartening, this is tapped into. Although with that there are the sequences of happiness and fun. These too are highly well done, believable and truthful in their exaggerations and glee. In between all that is a number of well done acting, reacting and beautiful storytelling. There are laugh out loud moments that don't necessarily have a punch line, they're just funny and great to watch. There near tear inducing pieces of pain that anyone who has loved someone as felt. In addition to that veteran music video director Marc Webb delivers these small, creative and beautiful scenes of the city and of these people that are done with the utmost artistry. This is the kind of skillful directing that belongs among the best work of this year by Tarantino, Soderbergh and Mann.

Finally it can be said that "(500) Days of Summer" is a real romantic film. It's never a comedy nor a drama. It successfully skates around genre pits and makes it all a believable movie experience. It lacks any sort of pretension unlike films like "Garden State" and it never cops out with something cheap. "(500) Days of Summer" is one of the films that will a near the top of my list of best films of the year and is easily one of the best romances of the 2000's.

"(500) Days of Summer" **** out of ****