(500) Days of Summer is a nearly perfect film for what it is. It gives us time and space to see how Tom and Summer fall in love, and makes a complex relationship seem perfectly understandable and completely relatable. 

The cast turn in strong performances. Joseph Gordon-Levitt has certainly made it onto my list of favorite actors.

There seem to be many who like to diminish Summer to a simple 5-letter word that begins with a 'B', but I found her much more complex and think it's clear why Tom fell for her, and why she went along with it. It's noted and underscored that her parents both divorced. She's been in several relationships, and none have worked. So she's never had the living example of lasting love. She wants it and experiments with it, but can't quite bring herself to believe in it.

The characters and story were simple, yet felt entirely real. I felt as if these were folks that I've met (or been), and connected with their struggles and triumphs on a personal level.

Even as someone morally opposed to casual sex relationships and the like, I was able to relate and empathize with this film (though I'm not excusing the behavior). And it has one of the best, most non-traditional endings ever. There's little else I could have asked for, artistically, from a film like this. My only real complaint is that I could have done without the sexual material and language, which would have left a more innocent, accessible film that would have been just as good.