500 Days of Summer — Review

I apologize to a hometown friend of mine, Scott Neustadter, one of the two writers of the film, because I should’ve A) seen this as soon as I knew he wrote the film and B) because it was one of the best movies I saw this year….

This movie captured me as much as I was watching it in an attempt to go to bed, I just could NOT stop watching it…. What makes this movie unbelievably solid in my opinion is not the cute puppy love Thomas, played by Joseph Gordon- Levitt has for Summer played by Zooey Deschanel. It was the underlying concept that — somewhere along the way things go one way for one partner in a relationship and completely another for the other person in situation.

The movie also played on one EXTREMELY relatable point…. what we all have for expectations of other counter parts and what the reality of the situation really is. When Thomas goes to the party at Summer’s house after things have gone downhill completely between the two — what he envisioned the night would be and what really occured were two totally different things…. I think this concept of reality versus expectations makes this movie so real in my opinion. Who HASN’T been in a relationship in which you envision the way things will go and they just fall so far off the mark and you’re left wildly disappointed? It’s happened to mostly everyone I know including myself.

I will not be giving away the ending to the movie here, but I will say this much — the ending totally nailed it for me. Even though the movie itself and the underlying concepts of the movie were so spot on, the ending really made me absolutely recommend this movie to anyone — I’m the furthest thing from a helpless romantic but the ending made me think positively about finding happiness and destiny in regards to love.

Get this movie now…. that’s all for now. Kudos Scott, kudos.