(500) Days of Summer is a rare type of romantic comedy - rather, love story - in that it lacks the schmaltzy, overwrought elements which plague those types of movies. It deals with the same issues - love, attachment, loss of someone important, temptation - but it manages to mould them into a new, genuine form as opposed to just a rehashing of movies past. And with two lead actors so likable, it pretty much rounds off as a fine, fine example of this type of movie.

The film follows Tom Hansen, a young man who's fallen in love with a young woman who doesn't believe in love. Starting towards the end of the titular 500 days, the film jumps back and forth between certain points in that amount of days as their relationship is looked back on.

What (500) Days of Summer importantly is aware that there are more complex nuances and details about the nature of dating, and relationships than what a narrative feature film could possibly ever completely explain or showcase. It's in this way that the film always treats its audience with respect and intellectual equality. Most romantic comedies, or "love stories," look down on the audience, simplifying every aspect of the ups and downs of the usual generic relationship, painting everything as black and white. (500) Days of Summer realises there are always shades of grey involved, if not that grey often covers the entire canvas.

The film is a collection of relationship complexities (both of dating and friendship) wrapped up in a blanket of accessibility. If one were to lay out some of the stuff the film deals with on paper, it would seem like the movie is less than fun to sit through. But that couldn't be further from the truth. This is, despite its complexity, a wholly fun and enjoyable movie that's breezy in nature and delightfully charming, but at the same time not forcefully so. With its playful visual stylizations (a creative use of split-screen put a big smile on my face), a consistent presence/use of the colour blue (which, as noted by the director in an interview, is used to highlight Zooey Deschanel's eyes) and light and airy pace, it accomplishes "charming" with ease. But unlike something like Juno, which was charming but also somewhat artificially so (that movie wins you over by sheer force of will, however), (500) Days is genuinely cute and charming. It doesn't try to be that but rather just is. And that's a hard thing to accomplish with a movie.

Article Author: Ross Miller

I am a film critic and blogger, and have been so for almost three years now, going from starting my own movie review website, Movie World (which is still running), and then moving on to writing for various movie blogs.

…

Visit Ross Miller's author page — Ross Miller's Blog