A Different Kind of Romance Movie
As a seasoned movie enthusiast, I’ve sat through countless romance films, and they all seem to convey the same message: everything will be alright in the end. Love conquers all, and if you try hard enough, you’ll find your happily ever after. But life doesn’t always work that way, and neither does 500 Days of Summer. This film breaks the mold of traditional romantic comedies, offering a refreshing and realistic take on love and heartbreak.
Meet Tom and Summer
Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon Levitt) is an architect turned greeting card writer who meets Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel), a quirky blue-eyed small-town girl turned L.A. office assistant. The two hit it off, bonding over their shared love for The Smiths and IKEA shopping trips. The film tells their love story in a disjointed, time-traveling way, flashing back between days one to 500, and taking us through first kisses, breakups, and reconciliations.
A Relatable Male Lead
Tom is perhaps the most relatable male lead in any romantic comedy I’ve ever seen. It’s unusual for a romantic comedy to have a male lead at all, but this isn’t She’s All That, Levitt’s 10 Things I Hate About You, or even Garden State. Though there’s plenty of humor throughout, there is a much larger, much more important lesson being taught here: heartbreak.
It’s easy to film and act out a story about two star-crossed lovers destined to be together since the dawn of time. We all know our famous movie couples: Jack and Rose, Noah and Allie, and more recently, Edward and Bella. But it’s a lot harder to make a movie about a relationship that just doesn’t feel quite right, and it’s fascinating to watch the doomed romance unfold. Deschanel has far more layers than the typical girl traditionally found in these movies, who usually alternate between sobbing and beaming. That role instead goes to Levitt, who makes both his joy and pain seem downright palpable throughout the tumultuous course of the film.
This is Not a Love Story
The film tells you from the get-go, “This is not a love story.” It’s certainly half of one, as Tom falls hard for Summer, but as the film progresses and you begin to realize that the feelings are one-sided, the film transcends typical plot developments and aims to be a somewhat inspirational lesson to everyone who’s ever had a failed relationship.
And I have. In fact, I’ve had plenty. Maybe that makes me biased in reviewing this movie as I related to it so heavily, but I think the success of the film speaks to the fact that its message resonates with a large chunk of the general public. Unless you ended up marrying your 5th-grade sweetheart, you probably know what it’s like to have loved and lost, whether it’s breaking off a three-year engagement or finding out that little Jenny Fisher was sharing her Ninja Turtles stickers with Charlie at recess instead of you.
A Message of Hope and Resilience
The message the film is trying to convey is “don’t give up” with a bit of “things happen for a reason” thrown in. It’s the only romantic movie I’ve ever seen where single people walk out smiling while couples are looking at each other awkwardly, trying to decide if their significant other is, in fact, holding them back from someone better. I highly do NOT recommend this as a date movie.
Yes, this review has turned into something more like a personal essay, but I think that really speaks to how much it can affect you, and to me, that’s the mark of a truly great film. 500 Days of Summer breathes new life into a genre that has long left people like me by the wayside, and judging from the overwhelmingly positive response to the film, it’s nice to know I’m not alone.
5 out of 5 stars
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