review by Silent J
(500) Days of Summer 2009
Reviewed Jun 26, 2012
Silent J’s review:
Wow, Summer was a bitch. Sorry, but if you saw the film, you know how much of a bitch she was.
Nonetheless, this film is just wonderful. Amazing performances from Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel (even if she does play a bitch) and they have fantastic chemistry. You believe their relationship and even if Deschanel plays a bitch, you can understand why Levitt loves her with all his heart no matter how many times she stomps on it. This relationship feels genuine on so many levels and the story does a great job telling the story of love lost and found with heart and soul. Marc Webb crafts a film that is not only charming and funny, but it is heartbreaking as well. The ending is pitch perfect. The film looks beautiful. It feels beautiful. It is so beautiful.
Summer was a massive bitch. I did not like her very much at all, and it almost ruined the whole experience.
She was a huge bitch, but I think she's supposed to come off as a bitch because, even if you've never been a relationship like this, we all know at least one guy who can't stop loving a woman even though that woman just constantly crushes his heart and that's what makes that relationship in this film feel so real.
But isn't that the point? It's dramatic irony: we watch Tom slowly come to the realization that we all came to far earlier (that Summer is a bitch), which makes the moment when he does get over her that much sweeter.
Speaking of, that moment (the time lapsed montage to Wolfmother) is one of the most gorgeous moments in any movie of the past five years.
Exactly. That's what makes the film so real and after seeing Tom suffer for so long it's uplifting to see him finally move on in the end.
I found the film very relatable. I've been in Tom's place where I fell in love with a girl who really wasn't nice to me at all and toyed with my emotions constantly. I can't tell you how close to home the Expectations/Reality scene hit.
Summer being a bitch is a huge part of what makes the film good. For a lot of it we're wondering if Tom sees something in Summer that we don't yet, and when we realise that he doesn't, it makes the film's last scene oh so satisfying.
Yeah, she definitely was!
@Aaron I agree with you completely! The fact is, the way they depicted the relationship, it kept some truth to how real relationships can be, and not the same crap we see in every other movie.
Her being a bitch is what completely changed the tone of the movie for me (in a good way)
The film really was quite well done, especially with the great performances in it.
@Cinebro same here. Joseph Gordon-Levitt did a great job :)