(500) Days of Summer

DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE!!! MAJOR SPOILER AT THE END OF THIS REVIEW!!!

Days of Summer brings a quirkiness to the screen that is most often left to movies with lesser scripts. However, this movie follows in the vein of movies such as High Fidelity or Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, yet it somehow masters the art of the indie flick.

We get it, it's a love story, it's a story about boy meets girl, boy falls in love and boy loses girl. But the whole time, the girl never really responds back to his needs. This type of love story, if I'm not mistaken, hasn't been seen. Ever. No one ever brings to the screen the romantic story from a male point of view. Unless they're making a really awful gay movie. This movie though captures perfectly, with a knockout performance by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, what a man goes through to capture love and make his life better.

Levitt stars as Tom, a greeting card writer who is seemingly content with his life until he meets Summer, a newly appointed assistant to his boss, expertly played by Zooey Deschanel. From the moment he meets her, he's taken with her beauty, and as you find out, so is everyone else. Through brave actions, he finds himself dating her, though she will only ever call themselves 'friends.' We've all been there. There is only one clear thing to do in that situation; run. And of course, he doesn't, because if he did, we wouldn't have a movie to watch.

The story goes back and forth, jumping from moments of happiness, to moments of sadness, to moments of triumph, to moments of sheer insanity, all at different points of the relationship. So, you have to pay close attention if you don't want to get lost. But it's been made very easy by new feature film director, Marc Webb, who's previous work is music videos. Personally, I think that aspect ties in a nice fun flare to a romantic flick. He found a wonderful way to weave the music into the film montage and bring out the true emotion of the movie. And, naturally, he found the perfect indie soundtrack to accompany the film.

Overall, this film is seemingly perfect. Deschanel and Levitt are both perfectly cast in their roles. I found it slightly unbelievable that the movie takes place over 500 days. That's roughly 1 year and 4 months. In that time span, he meets her, courts her, falls in love with her, loses her and she ends up married to someone else. When did she have time to do that unless she was cheating on him? Most likely the case. However, that was the least of my worries with such an impeccable film. Blended with cynicism and romance, this movie presents itself as 'something for everyone.'