500 Days of Summer

by Aaron Helfferich · Published August 7, 2009

“500 Days of Summer” is not your typical romantic comedy. Even though the offbeat story might seem to have all the right elements, the speaking narrator quickly proclaims you shouldn’t be looking for a love story. Instead of the methodical story of boy meets girl, boy falls in love, boy gets girl, “500 Days of Summer” is a film that’s straightforward, built with honest characters, and dependent on its real-life scenarios.

Unless you’ve been living in a fairy tale land, you’re most likely familiar with the predicament that the main character finds himself in. For Tom Hansen, “500 Days of Summer” is his story of boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, and the girl doesn’t love him back. However, the girl, Summer Finn, forms a heavily emotional relationship with Tom at the unknowing expense of his own emotions. As he delivers the story through a fragmented recollection of days with Summer, Tom looks back on his experiences, good and bad, while trying to make sense of it all.

To assist in realistically relaying these troublesome experiences to an experienced audience, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel lend their talents to the lead roles of Tom and Summer. Not only do they perform their roles with an honest charisma together, but they carry a striking relation to reality that nearly impossible for the typical genre dwellers to capture. Levitt, alone, is one of the unique and integral parts of the film. It’s a surprise turn from ordinary casting trends.

What gives “500 Days of Summer” its unique visionary edge is director Marc Webb. As if he is speaking directly through the mouth of his own equally inquisitive main character, Webb utilizes this creative film to answer his own questions about the troubles of life and relationships. In turn, Webb gives us a commentary on relationships that’s as emotionally uplifting as it is disheartening. More importantly, he provokes the questions of bad relationships and if they serve a greater purpose than we’re aware of.

Even though it’s a genre that typically targets a select audience, “500 Days of Summer” is the romantic comedy that almost everyone can relate to. It’s nearly the re-invention this predictable genre desperately needed. Instead of being a story that creates an illusion to momentarily suppress the real life troubles of its audience, here’s one that gives answers which viewers can benefit from in their own lives. At the end of the day, that’s more than enough to make you smile.