(500) Days of Summer - Review
Starring Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Directed by Marc Webb.
A man falls in love with a girl. She puts up with him until she dumps him. Not a spoiler - we find this out about 5 minutes into the film. The rest of the time we wonder if they are going to settle their differences and get back together.
It's hard what to make of this film. At times it's firmly planted in realism and at others it spins off into fantasy. In parts it's remorselessly gloomy and in others it's cheerfulness is too optimistic for words. I suppose that some people would admire a film that refuses to stick to one style throughout, but I'm afraid I just found it messy.
There were quirky moments that we are supposed to find endearing, but instead I just found myself annoyed that they were ripped-off from other, better, movies:
Man in love given advice by his very young, precocious sister - Gregory's Girl.
Fantasy song-and-dance sequence - Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Is there such a thing as "love at first sight" - When Harry Met Sally
Man obsesses over a girl who he will never permanently win - Chasing Amy
Yes, when Chasing Amy is better than the film under discussion, you know it's not a classic!
There's a very annoying Narrator who crops up infrequently and at odd moments. You wonder why they bothered.
And the narrative is non-linear, but it's hard to know why. This is a story who's telling is not enhanced by chopping it up and dancing backwards and forwards in time. From the start of the film we know that this is going to be the story of a relationship. The only question is: will the guy end up with the girl. And we don't find out until the end of the film. Changing the chronology makes no difference to the outcome nor our perception of what the outcome might be.
There are a few chuckles. One especially that made me laugh out loud (a joke which can't be repeated on a family website, unfortunately), but the good moments were not outweighed by feeling that I'd seen it all done before, but much better.
Was it worth the admission price? Maybe. If you see it cheap, on an Orange Wednesday.
Would you recommend it to your friends? Only if they really have nothing better to do.
Why is Joseph Gordon-Levitt so familiar? Because he was in Third Rock From The Sun. I had to look him up on Wikipedia before I realised where I knew him from. I think he has the look of a Maori, so at first I thought he played for the All-Blacks.