Review: (500) Days of Summer

It’s not often that girls root for the guy when watching movies. But that is exactly what happens when watching the indie film “(500) Days of Summer.”

The narrator warns you in first few moments of the film, saying, “This is a story of boy meets girl, but you should know upfront, this is not a love story.”

Joseph Gordon-Levitt (“10 Things I Hate About You”) plays Tom Hansen, a young man who is desperate to find the love his life and sees every woman as a potential wife. While writing greeting cards as his tedious career, Tom meets Summer Finn (played brilliantly by Zooey Deschanel), who is like no one he has met before.

Tom and Summer break the norm when dealing with love. Usually it is the boy who doesn’t want to commit, but this time it is Summer who wants an unconventional relationship. It becomes clear in a scene set in a karaoke bar that Tom and Summer have two very different views of love.

Set to an amazing soundtrack, including Regina Spektor’s song “Us,” Tom and Summer struggle to meet somewhere in the middle of both their beliefs. There are definite highs and lows as their relationship progresses.

However, the film touches on more subjects than just love. Some of the most memorable scenes are when Tom and Summer discuss his previous passion, architecture, and how he ended up writing greeting cards as his miserable career.

The movie flows well even though the story is told out of order, and you will wish there could have been more than 500 days to cover.

Things never go well when one half of a relationship doesn’t believe in true love, and that’s why “(500) Days of Summer” is such a brilliant film. It questions everything you believe about love and relationships, and yet you still root for love to win the fight.

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