Fanatastic alternitive rom-com

(500) Days of Summer, Exeter Vue

Cert 12A, 95 minutes

By Graham Taylor

This is not a love story, the droll narrator of the wonderful indie rom-com, (500) Days of Summer booms.

The film may believe it isn’t, but you’ll be wondering whether this is a true statement, or whether director Marc Webb and his team of genius creative minds just want you to believe this is something completely different to what it actually is.

(500) Days ultimately falls slap bang in the middle of these two categories; it’s not a love story, but a film about love, and the naive perceptions of lead character, Tom Hanson (a scene stealing turn from Joseph Gordon- Levitt).

Having misread his favourite film, The Graduate, and listening to soppy British music, Tom believes that he will never truly be happy until he meets the ‘One.’ This person appears to be Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel), a gloriously kooky, wide eyed babe, who Tom falls in love with from the word go.

Summer, on the other hand, is less keen to develop a relationship with our charismatic lead, yet still leads him along to belive she may eventually develop true feelings for him. Sadly, as the clever non linear narrative shows us from the beginning of the film, things don’t turn out so well for Tom, and as he sinks into a deep depression, he makes it his mission to win the girl of his dreams back, despite the setbacks he will face.

What makes (500) Days of Summer so appealing is how it turns the romantic comedy cliches on its head. That’s not to say it doesn’t have its own cliche problems (wise beyond her age kid sister, catty breakups), but it normally steers clear of these obstacles. The idea of boy-meets-girl-and-they-face-obstacles-but-they-end-up-together-again is completely avoided at all costs here, to make sure the film keeps all of its stylish indie cred.

Performances and the script were everything here, and luckily, both aspects here are wonderful. Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel make an adorable and believable character, and although you never truly understand or like Summer, you somehow empathize with how difficult the decisions she has been forced to make have affected her, not just Tom.

It’s nice to see the views from the male perspective, and writers Scott Neustadter and Michael H Webber (of The Pink Panther 2 fame) have crafted an unpredictable and exciting romantic comedy, which is something hard to do when the genre has been stale for years.

Whether you can call this a romantic comedy is debatable, because the source material is far and beyond that of recent romantic films like He’s just not that into you. The film does create a new version on the story of the true path of love, and although some may percieve the overall view as pessamistic, it’s definitely realistic.

The music is excellent, from artists such as Regina Specktor and Hall & Oats, and the direction from Marc Webb is wonderfully uplifting. The fun cartoon song and dance routine (!?) is executed brilliantly, although there are lots of smaller scenes that really catch your attention too.

The film doesn’t go without its flaws though. The middle sections drag slightly, and although the film is unpredictable and steers clear of showing the big events, you sometimes wish they would, to give it an extra umph that would at least give it a couple of scenes to extend to a wider audience who want something just a little over the top.

Still, this is excellent, and is another stellar edition to what has been an excellent September month; District 9, Julie and Julia and Mesrine: Killer Instinct were all excellent, and this perfectly slots in with this calibre of excellence. To answer the question from the beginning of this film, you must make your mind up as to whether this is a love story or not.