Review of (500) Days of Summer (2009) by Stuart M — 07 Dec 2015
An odd romantic comedy that places two flawed but charming characters with opposing goals and outlooks on life into a relationship where they're hopelessly mismatched only to, in line with all odds, fall apart.
A lot of people take sides, which shows that the film is working on an emotional level, but I felt they were both simply incompatible. Zoey is flighty and shallow and doesn't want to get involved or go anywhere, but at the same time is eager to make out and draw him closer, even when she should know that this would hurt him, because she refuses to live outside of the moment or consider the potential consequences of her actions.
Levitt is on the surface more sympathetic, until you see the depths to which his desire to make her conform to his vision of the ideal woman will make him sink. You get some signs of it early on when he rages about her being a skank for not being interested in him and going off with someone else, even though he never expressed any interest in her.
He's the epitome of the whiny loner complaining about getting friendzoned, a concept that seems to have far more negative connotations now than it did then. They clearly can't make it work, but you do generally sympathize with them.
It's one of the film's strengths.
This review of (500) Days of Summer (2009) was written by Stuart M on 07 Dec 2015.
(500) Days of Summer has generally received very positive reviews.
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