The Big Picture - (500) Days of Summer

Moving with the seasons, Richard Aindow sees (500) Days of Summer


There is a certain smorgasbord of words that gets used for films like Juno and Little Miss Sunshine; the kinds of films that feature cute animations, dysfunctional relationships and soundtracks featuring Simon & Garfunkel or Belle and Sebastian. Quirky, kooky and hip are a few of them… but my favourite, which demonstrates bias immediately, is… refreshing.

Long a fan of the off-beat American comedy, (500) Days of Summer has been eagerly anticipated because it ticks all those boxes proudly. Here’s hoping first-time director Marc Webb can achieve the difficult balance between style and substance.

Essentially an extended emotional rollercoaster, (500) Days of Summer follows the peaks and troughs endured by Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), an architecture-trained greeting card writer living in Los Angeles, in his relationship with the new girl at work, Summer (Zooey Deschanel). A mysterious ‘medusaesque’ creature, Summer fears commitment and laughs in the face of true love, whilst Tom is so in touch with his emotions that the sight of an injured bird would probably necessitate sedation. There may be trouble ahead.

Straying from a linear path, (500) Days of Summer shows us snippets of their relationship in an order that initially appears confusing. But to help us ‘navigate’ the movie (please let me be hip too), there is a counter that keeps track of the days since our protagonists met. With the functionality reminiscent of an iPod, we flit back and forth knowing roughly how it is going to end but along the way discover the events that led us there.

These events feature plenty of cute touches for fans of the fanciful; a brilliant ensemble dance sequence featuring an animated bird and a trip to IKEA (what more appropriate setting could there be?) so Tom and Summer can play at being grownups. The whole thing is put together impressively, featuring an appropriately cute soundtrack and several laugh-out-loud moments based around the office environment.

The performances of the lead actors are also, unquestionably, strong. In particular, Gordon-Levitt, brilliant in the indie film Brick, is shaping up to be a fine actor – the emotional range required for this role is achieved effortlessly. What I like most about both of these characters, however, is that they feel like real people. You can see that Summer has lines around her eyes and is a little pasty; Tom’s hair is always ruffled (and not always in a good way). Webb’s tiny touch of realism is much appreciated. His treatment of LA is also insightful; few films actually use LA as a backdrop (it isn’t really that attractive) but fits perfectly with the urban theme.

On the downside, one can’t help feeling that (500) Days of Summer has shades of a missed opportunity. This film should be really great, rather than very good. It is held back primarily by the lack of a stronger finish and the fact that, iPod navigation aside, it has a very traditional plot (if a little gender-reversed). The feeling that we understand how the whole thing will play out nags away at our enjoyment of what is actually happening to Tom and Summer, wherever they are along their 500-day journey.

You would have thought that there would be an end to the scope of hipster movies but, thankfully, this is not yet the case. Juno is the recent masterpiece of this genre but (500) Days of Summer is a worthy addition. Smart dialogue, smart acting, smart art direction, smart soundtrack – this is a smart movie and, with summer just around the corner, the kind of film that will get you in the mood for the long days ahead.

In Summary

Genre: Romantic comedy
Starring: Zooey Deschanel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Clark Gregg and Minka Kelly
Director: Marc Webb
Origin: US
Running time: 95 mins
Rating: PG-13
Score: 4 Tomatoes out of 5