'(500) Days of Summer' a unique girl-meets-boy tale
By: Sally Kline
Examiner Movie Critic
July 17, 2009
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| Joseph Gordon-Levitt, left, and Zooey Deschanel star in a scene from "500 Days of Summer." (AP) |
If you go'(500) Days of Summer'
3 out of 5 Stars
Stars: Zooey Deschanel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Director: Marc Webb
Rated PG-13 for sexual material and language.
Running Time: 96 minutes
For once, she's just not that into him. In this season's role-reversing romantic dramedy "(500) Days of Summer," Zooey Deschanel as the aloof Summer Finn resists commitment to Joseph Gordon-Levitt's lovesick Tom Hanson.
This fresh twist may not be exactly believable in real-world applications. C'mon, how many times have you heard of the girl being afraid of meaningful conversation and feelings!?!? But that premise is just one idiosyncrasy that distinguishes today's clever and sometimes self-consciously hip relationship picture from the norm.
Besides the affected use of parentheses and play on words in the title, an eclectic soundtrack spans the gamut from The Smiths to former nudie model-turned-first lady of France Carla Bruni. One set piece interrupts the script's stream of bantering when one character suddenly bursts into song, leading a crowded musical production number through a park to the retro strains of Hall & Oates' "You Make My Dreams." Another sequence uses a split screen to simultaneously show Tom's expectations of how a crucial night with Summer will go alongside the devastating reality of how it actually does go.
Debuting feature director Marc Webb and screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber toss in every notion to show us how very cool and quirky their take on twentysomething love can be. And for the most part, they aren't just original, they are also successful. Either because of or despite the forced style, we like the male protagonist, at least, and we root for this thoroughly modern romance to work.
The action pivots back and forth -- and back again -- randomly through the 500 days of the meeting, courting and unwinding of the liaison between Summer and Tom, told from his viewpoint with input from interested observers (including Clark Gregg and Kelly Minka). So, before we get to see the couple first lay eyes on each other on day one, we've already glimpsed their denouement on a miserable day 488. In between, they stare longingly in lust's bloom as they browse through Ikea, search for professional meaning in their lives and revel in the undervalued architectural beauty of a part of downtown Los Angeles not usually glimpsed in movies.
Staying true to a now familiar persona, Deschanel ("Elf," "Yes Man") delivers another of her ethereal, deadpan performances. But it is former child star Gordon-Levitt as the earnest, moony romantic who grounds the piece. We'd rather spend our "Days" with him.
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