Film Reviews: 500 Days of Summer

(500) Days of Summer

2006

Director: Marc Webb

Screenplay: Scott Neustadler and Michael Weber

(500) Days of Summer is a romantic comedy...sort of... Let me rephrase: (500) Days of Summer is the story of a young man named Tom, who believes in fate and destiny and, by all his accounts, feels like he met that soul mate in Summer Finn, a carefree young woman who has just entered in life.  Tom works at a greeting card company, and you can bet that he believes in the things he writes.  A hopeless romantic, Tom is immediately drawn to Summer and has that “love at first sight” moment.  Summer, however, is a different story.

I want you to think back to some of your past relationships.  Very rarely, you forget the order that things happen.  You generally start at the end, which in most cases is the most memorable, and piece together the good memories and the bad memories. (500) Days of Summer does the same thing.  The days are scattered all over the place, showing the heartbreak, the great times, the laughable moments, and the moments that test the relationship.  What is interesting about the film is the dynamics of the relationship between Summer and Tom.  Summer states from the beginning that her philosophy is to live life and be free spirited.  Tom agrees to keep the relationship “light” and does not fully reveal his feelings to Summer.  As the days progress and jump around, we see how much Tom feels for Summer and how much Summer starts to lose interest in Tom.  In the first lines of the film, the Narrator states “This is a story of boy meets girl. But you should know up front, this is not a love story.”  The story of Tom and Summer simply describes the lives of two people, one who falls madly in love, and the other---who doesn’t.

The reason I would recommend this movie is because it is an up to date real look at relationships.  Most people have faced situations where they want to give their heart to another, but what if the other doesn’t accept or feel the same way?  The movie offers a little bit of everything - Love, Friendship, Family, Laughter, and above all...hope.

3.5/4