(500) Days of Summer (2009)

Essentially the story of a boy who falls in love with a girl who doesn’t, this quirky romantic drama should be titled 'Reliving the past 500 days with Summer, a girl who I allowed to torture me.'

Greeting-card writer and aspiring architect Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) relives the past 500 days of his relationship with Summer (Zooey Deschanel) looking for clues on their doomed romance. Though he is told by Summer, a commitment-phobic eccentric, that she isn’t looking for anything serious, Tom plunges ahead. By day 244, he’s had his heart ripped out three times. Stupid boy keeps coming back for more.

(500) Days of Summer tries to be smart, but comes across cliché. The non-linear storyline is perhaps the most interesting element of the film. Told through days of consequence, we see moments of puppy love, spontaneity, drinking, shopping, goofing off, etc. The little vignettes are tender, but more often corny. The film wants to be many things and fails at them all.

The chemistry between Deschanel and Gordon-Levitt is rote. He makes googly-eyes the entire film. She has googly-eyes. Her vintage/thrift store wardrobe symbolism is eye-rollingly obvious. His hipster cardigans and messenger bags… well, these cool cats are so meant to be. Or not.

By the time the viewer reaches day 422, you want her to physically rip his heart out or him to snort a line to put YOU out of this pretentious misery. The culmination of days—day 500—is a cheap shot at the audience.

As I see it, (500) Days of Summer is a disappointing waste of time. Love hurts. So does this movie. It’s best avoided unless Garden State is all rented out.