500 Days of Summer movie review
How could you make a funny movie about a man finding his soul mate and then losing her? You cast Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the resurgent actor as Tom Hanson, and Zooey Deschanel, finally bearable for a full movie as Summer Finn, and then give them a wonderful script about love to explore.
500 Days of Summer is a fun story about moving on from your soul mate relationship and finding love vastly different from your childhood perceptions. The story is told non-linearly, often times bouncing around from various periods in the past, measured by days since Hanson met Finn. Day one occurs sometime in the past, while day 500 is the present day looking back. Since the story boomerangs, we see their flowering relationship contrasted against a fading spark. Their spontaneous kiss at work breaks your heart once you see them apathetically arguing about which movie to see. The effect draws the audience to enjoy the characters better because their relationship fluctuates between destined and doomed. We’re left unsure if we want them together or separated and the uncertainty solidifies since both are funny and likable.
Gordon-Levitt is finally starting to come into the spotlight as a major actor and this is very good for Hollywood. Many viewers may remember him from his teenage angsty role on Third Rock from the Sun, that 90’s sitcom about aliens on earth where every episode revolved around one of the characters misunderstanding normal social interactions and creating comedy from their confusion. Shallow and repetitive, most the stars sputtered escaping their TV personalities. Gordon-Levitt, coupling his suit-wearing 500 Days role with his Inception suit-wearing role, is proving he can hold a movie. His career, dating back to the 80’s, will hopefully allow him to pick smart roles and stay in audience’s mind for a long time to come. He will soon be given a main role to hold an entire movie himself – if he picks it well, he’ll be around for a while.
Zooey Deschanel, on the other hand, always seems to play the same character: free spirited and thoughtful, she challenges her romantic interest to see the world through her eyes (while only seeing her in The New Guy (2001), Yes Man (2008) and 500 Days, she sings in all three and carries a “stop being so uptight” personality). And although she is very similar to this description for 500 Days, Gordon-Levitt does a great job balancing her out – like a refreshing drink of soda after salty popcorn. But she does seem to make Summer Finn her role and possessing such ownership over the character is a testament to her acting skill.
Dripping with all the beauty of an independent movie (thoughtful soundtrack, interesting characters, enjoyable story), 500 Days is a romantic film that won’t overwhelm a jaded film goer.
Addendum:
Article is now up at http://artsinalabama.webs.com/apps/blog/show/4919199-500-days-of-summer-2010.
No comments:
Post a Comment