(500) Days of Summer

After watching (500) Days of Summer, it is nearly impossible not to link this disjointed reflection of love gone wrong to Woody Allen’s Annie Hall. Tom’s obsession with relationships resembles the neurotic Alvy Singer, while Summer mimics Annie Hall as being both beautifully eccentric and utterly unattainable. Although director Marc Webb’s independent romantic comedy was certainly influenced by Allen’s classic, (500) Days offers a fresh perspective of the highs and inevitable lows of the modern romance.  

While the narrator warns that the film is “not a love story,” the film quickly jumps into the relationship of Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Summer (Zooey Deschanel). Rather than begin with the typical meet cute, the film starts where their relationship ends. We meet Tom, a cathartic plate smasher and greeting card writer, immediately after his relationship with Summer ends. As his friends attempt to comfort him, Tom tries to recall where the relationship went wrong. The film then continues in a nonlinear fashion, slowly revealing episodes of the building and eventual decay of Tom and Summer’s relationship. 

The film’s plot structure is just one of the ways that (500) Days elevates itself from the predictable and superficial romantic comedy. It relies not so much on typical conventions, but aims to portray relationships and how we deal with them in an realistic way. (500) Days strives to be a romantic comedy without the fairytale. 

(500) Days provides us with a disconnected plot that aids in the film’s realism. Immediately after being dumped, Tom doesn’t understand why his relationship with Summer ended. However as the film flits between Tom’s days with Summer, we are invited to unscramble the demise of their relationship along with him. This nonlinear structure is by no means unique to the film, but works so successfully as it enriches how we and Tom perceive their romance. 

The film is only enhanced by its main leads. Joseph Gordon-Levitt honestly portrays heartbreak, while still maintaining his charming comedic qualities. Put in the wrong hands, Summer’s character could easily become a cold and noncommittal villain. However Zooey Deschanel, radiant as ever in this film, plays Summer with a complexity that is at times frustrating, but is inescapably likable. 

(500) Days claims that it is not a love story, however it offers a representation of love and relationships that is smarter and more honest than the idealized romantic comedy. When a film can be this clever and imaginative who needs the fairytale?