500 Days of Summer

Rating: 5/5

One of my all time favorite films, 500 Days of Summer is innovative, charming, and one of a kind.

Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) believes in the power of love. He has always dreamed about finding his soul mate, and one day at work, he thinks he has. That fateful day, Summer (Zooey Deschanel) comes to work at the same greeting card company Tom works for. Immediately, he becomes enchanted by Summer.

One night, the office decides to go to a karaoke bar for a get together. It is there that Tom officially realizes the extent of his feelings for Summer, but discovers that she is not interested in having any type of committed relationship. Ignoring Summer's comments about never wanting to be married or even be called someone's girlfriend, Tom enters into a strange relationship with Summer, hoping that he can change her mind on commitment.

One of the most impressive pieces to 500 Days of Summer, is the way that the story is told. The movie does not follow any chronological order, and bounces between the first day that Tom met Summer, to their 500th day of them knowing one another. You'd think that this way of storytelling would be confusing, but the creative minds behind the film were able to make the jumbled assortment of days make perfect sense, and as a bonus, add an original and intriguing element to their film.

For a movie of this nature, the two leads were perfectly cast. Zooey Deschanel has made a career on being quirky, adorable, and offbeat, and each of those qualities can be found in the role she plays. Her character is one that you are almost supposed to dislike in a way, but it is impossible because of her large eyes and plucky personality. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a naive man who has been blinded by love, incredibly well. You know based on the first five minutes of the film how the relationship between Summer and Tom is going to end, but because of Gordon-Levitt's performance, you are continuously wondering if the outcome may change before the credits roll.

Plot and music wise, the movie does fall into the indie rom-com category, but visually, it stands completely apart from the rest. There are many tricks and concepts throughout the film that make 500 Days of Summer unique in comparison to other movies with a similar storyline. Most notably, there is a scene in which Tom goes to a party hosted by Summer, and in that scene, you see some of the more creative and inventive techniques that the filmmakers were inspired to use.

This movie is one that I can distinctly remember seeing for the first time, because I had never really watched anything like it before. It is unusual in many ways, but it is because of its' peculiarities that 500 Days of Summer is such a wonderful film.