Love Hurts! Finally, a movie for those of us who have loved and not be loved in return and couldn’t understand why. It’s one of the funniest love story that’s not. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel give their best performances, the cutest chemistry, for… their characters’ imperfect relationship. It’s sweet and sad, it’s hilarious and devastating. Screenwriting team Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber have crafted an infectious story, memorable characters, with hilarious sense of humor that’ll make you enjoy movie this so much, you can’t see your life without it.
This post modern love story is never what we expect it to be — it’s thorny yet exhilarating, funny and sad, a twisted journey of highs and lows that doesn’t quite go where we think it will. When Tom (Gordon-Levitt), a hapless greeting card copywriter and hopeless romantic, is blindsided after his girlfriend Summer (Zooey Deschanel) dumps him, he shifts back and forth through various periods of their 500 days “together” to try to figure out where things went wrong. His reflections ultimately lead him to finally rediscover his true passions in life.
500 DAYS OF SUMMER is one of the most entertaining indie flick this year The power lies within its comedy, you shift back and forth from the number of days when Levitt’s character Tom is happy with Deschanel’s character Summer in his life to the number of days when he’s miserable because he can’t figure out why she won’t love her back. It can be a bit frustrating watching this especially for those of us who’ve been in that situation but I think that’s where the writing is successful, for half the movie, it sorta makes an enemy out of Summer and we feel for Tom, but eventually we’ve come to realize that Tom is too needy and we understand that Summer’s decision is actually the wise one.
Director Marc Webb plays with the timeline brilliantly, you never know which situation he’s going to take us to.
Not only that, the dialogue is very smart, the jokes are consistent and snappy and they hit the target with smartass remarks you’d normally hear in everyday conversation. You’ll definitely cheer at the end.
Watching 500 DAYS OF SUMMER is watching Tom’s emotional roller coaster ride. You’ll fall in love with how the movie depicts his mood when he’s happy and the way it illustrates depression and loneliness
Having the sister, Rachel, played by Chloe Moretz, be the voice of reason for Tom seems a bit of a stretch. How can a younger barely teen sister know so much about relationship?! But out of all the people trying to tell Tom that there’s plenty of fish in the sea, out of all the people trying hard to get Tom to channel his sadness through some odd productive ways, Rachel is probably the one that makes the most sense when she straight up tells her brother Tom the painful truth he needs to hear but doesn’t want to, he acts like he does but he ends up trying to get Summer back again and again.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a fantastic actor, Mysterious Skin and Brick are just some examples that he is a great actor that one day will get an Oscar recognition. As Tom, Levitt understands that his character is so obsessed with this fantasy that you can never find true happiness until you find that one true love. I’ve heard before that guys ache more during a break-up, Levitt sure hits the ball out of the park with his performance. He’s not happy about himself, he settles for a job he hates. He’s willing to give up everything for that one true love and ultimate, that is what Summer finds unattractive about him. By the way, Zooey’s cuteness might keep some audience from acknowledging her acting skills but after watching 500 DAYS OF SUMMER, you won’t compare her to young Meg Ryan anymore.
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