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    Boy meets girl
    Boy falls in love
    Girl doesn't

  • When Tom, a hapless greeting card copywriter and hopeless romantic, is blindsided after his girlfriend summer 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.

  • Directed by: Marc Webb
    Wirtten by: Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber
    Cast: Zooey Deschanel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Clark Gregg, Minka Kelly, Matthew Gray Gubler, Rachel Boston, Geoffrey Arend, Chloe Moritz
    Producers: Jessica Tuchinsky, Mary Waters, Steven Wolfe, Mason Novick

  • 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.

    Release Date: July 17, 2009

April 18th, 2010

The Secret of 500 Days of Summer

Marc here. I’m back.

marc-webb-photography

I’m not Marc Webb (the director of 500 Days.) I’m just a fan of the movie.

I rewatched 500 Days of Summer recently. I’ve seen it a few times but I feel like this was the first time I really “saw it.”

I have a new appreciation for this movie.

Tom and Summer—every interaction of theirs tore at me. It’s easy to identify with only Summer or only Tom. But to fully appreciate 500 Days of Summer, I think it’s important to really feel for both of them.

The film’s quality is in its truth and accuracy. Every minor character represents a variety of perspectives on love and relationships. From McKenzie to Tom’s cat-loving, female co-worker.

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Most Hollywood movies stereotype these views on love so much that they become unrecognizable (unbelievable?) and the ideas lose their intrigue.

Luckily, here we have a film that doesn’t only appreciate spending time in this thought arena, it’s devoted to it.

I think people are critical of 500 Days of Summer, not because of a personal taste in screenplay, but because of paradigms, or perspectives.

Everyone can really enjoy this film, even if you don’t mesh with one character. Not meshing with a couple—still a solid film. But if your beliefs prevent you from connecting fully with many characters, the film loses its greatness.

So, an “A”, I would give this film.

Only an A because of that potential of a gap between a character and the audience.

But taking into account the unparalleled performance of Joesph Gordon-Levitt and the coolness and grace of director Marc Webb, this one gets an A+.

bench-la

I could go on. Every actor in 500 Days is underrated. (And, of course, we would have nothing without writers Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber.)

Agree with my review? How did you relate with the characters of 500 Days of Summer?

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