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500 Days of Summer
500 Days of Summer
Short summary:
“Boy
meets
girl.
Boy
falls
in
love.
Girl
doesn’t.
This
postmodern
love
story
is
never
what
we
expect
it
to
be
—
it’s
thorny
yet
exhilarating,
funny
and
sad,
a
twisted
journey
of
highs
and
lows
that
doesn’t
quite
go
where
we
think
it
will.
When
Tom,
a
hapless
greeting
card
copywriter
and
hopeless
romantic,
is
blindsided
after
his
girlfriend,
Summer
dumps
him,
he
shifts
back
and
forth
through
various
periods
of
their
500
days
“together”
to
try
to
figure
out
where
things
went
wrong.
His
reflections
ultimately
lead
him
to
finally
rediscover
his
true
passions
in
life.”
What
makes
500
Days
of
Summer
so
distinctive
is
its
indirect
mocking
of
convention
and
its
charmingly
heartfelt
story
presented
in
a
way
that's
both
breezy
and
innovative
with
several
unique
creative
touches.
It's
a
fractured
tale
in
which
events
unfold
from
the
perspective
of
the
male
leading
role,
Tom.
The
film
warns
us
early
that
"this
is
not
a
love
story."
The
action
switches
back
and
forth
over
the
time
Tom
and
Summer
are
together,
in
a
clever
structure
dictated
by
events
rather
than
linear
storytelling.
We
never
remember
in
chronological
order,
especially
when
we
are
going
back
over
a
failed
romance.
We
start
near
the
end,
and
then
hop
around
between
the
times
that
were
good
and
the
times
that
left
pain.
People
always
say
“start
at
the
beginning,”
but
we
didn’t
know
at
the
time
it
was
the
beginning.
"500
Days
of
Summer"
charmingly
works
that
way.
Some
say
they’re
annoyed
by
the
way
it
begins
on
Day
488
or
then
jumps
around,
providing
utterly
confusion
to
the
movie.
But
this
film
is
trying
to
tell
that
Tom
remembers
his
love,
Summer,
as
a
series
of
joys
and
bafflements.
Generally,
in
romance
films,
we
believe
what
we
want
to
believe,
which
most
of
the
typical
films
will
bring
about
a
lot
of
unreal
romance
to
touch
the
watchers’
heart.
That’s
the
reason
why
"500
Days
of
Summer"
is
so
appealing.
Tom
is
in
love
with
Summer
from
the
moment
he
sees
her.
On
the
other
hand,
Summer
sees
Tom
with
a
level
gaze
and
is
who
she
is.
It’s
Tom’s
bad
luck
she
is
sweet
and
smart
and
beautiful
—
it’s
not
an
act.
She
is
always
scrupulously
honest
with
him.
She
is
her
own
person,
and
Tom
can’t
have
her.
One
of
the
highlights
is
a
send-‐up
of
musical
montages
that
takes
place
after
Tom
and
Summer's
first
amorous
night.
Tom's
contented
strut
becomes
a
Singin'
in
the
Rain-‐style
dance
number
to
the
tune
of
Hall
&
Oates'
peppy
You
Make
My
Dreams.
Strangers,
and
even
an
animated
bluebird,
join
in
Tom's
celebration.
This
woman
simply
likes
him
for
now,
but
not
for
forever.
The
movie,
which
is
a
delightful
comedy,
alive
with
invention,
is
about
Tom
wrestling
with
that
reality.
He
loves
her
for
life,
and
thinks
that
she
could
be
the
one
to
be
his
wife.
The
feeling
when
he
had
lost
her.
The
director
Marc
Webb
has
been
playfully
casting
about
for
templates
from
some
classic
movies
to
help
him
tell
this
story;
simply
charming.
There’s
a
little
black
and
white,
a
little
musical
number,
a
little
Fellini,
which
is
always
helpful
in
evoking
a
man
in
the
act
of
yearning.
Tom
spends
this
movie
in
the
emotional
quandary
of
Mastroianni
in
"La
Dolce
Vita,"
his
hand
always
outstretched
toward
his
inaccessible
fantasies.
Summer
remains
mysterious
all
through
the
film,
perhaps
because
we
persist
with
Tom
in
expecting
her
to
cave
in.
When
we
realize
she
is
not
required
to
in
this
movie,
because
it’s
not
playing
by
the
rules
of
typical
romance
films,
that
is
what
surprises
us
in
this
movie.
The
time
structure
truly
is
something
new
that
brings
about
a
new
concept
freedom
of
romantic
confusion.
Very
creative
scenes
when
Tom
was
invited
to
a
party
whom
the
girl
invited
him
to;
he
tried
to
win
her
back.
And
this
scene
has
a
clever
split-‐screen
segment,
with
half
of
the
screen
devoted
to
"Reality"
and
the
other
to
"Expectation",
which
often
happens
in
real
life
and
mounts
an
earnest
awe
to
the
watchers
at
the
same
time.
Towards
the
ending,
says
Tom
has
finally
come
to
realize
that
“it
was
that
you
can't
ascribe
great
cosmic
significance
to
a
simple
earthly
event.
Coincidence,
that's
all
anything
ever
is,
nothing
more
than
coincidence.
There
are
no
miracles.
There's
no
such
thing
as
fate,
nothing
is
meant
to
be.
He
knew,
he
was
sure
of
it
now”.
And
this
scene
is
where
he
meets
Autumn,
right
after
Summer.
Endearing,
fresh
and
funny,
500
Days
of
Summer
offers
insights
about
fate,
attraction,
infatuation,
heartbreak
and
the
perseverance
of
hope
simply
in
running
time
of
97
minutes.
Awards:
Scott
Neustadter
and
Michael
H.
Weber
received
numerous
awards
for
their
screenplay;
including
the
2009
Hollywood
Film
Festival's
Hollywood
Breakthrough
Screenwriter
Award
on
October
26,
2009,
the
Satellite
Award
for
Best
Original
Screenplay,
the
Southeastern
Film
Critics
Association
Award
for
Best
Original
Screenplay
(with
the
film
also
being
named
in
the
Top
Ten
Films
of
the
Year),
as
well
as
the
Las
Vegas
Film
Critics
Society
Award
for
Best
Screenplay.
Alan
Edward
Bell
won
the
San
Diego
Film
Critics
Society
Award
for
Best
Editing,
as
well
as
the
film
being
named
one
of
the
ten
best
movies
of
the
year
by
the
National
Board
of
Review
Awards
2009.
The
film
also
received
two
nominations
at
the
67th
Golden
Globe
Awards
announced
on
December
15,
2009,
for
Best
Picture
(Comedy
or
Musical)
and
for
Joseph
Gordon-‐Levitt
for
Best
Actor
(Comedy
or
Musical).
It
has
been
nominated
for
four
Independent
Spirit
Awards
and
won
the
award
for
Best
Screenplay.
It
received
a
nomination
for
the
People's
Choice
Award.
This
scene
shows
how
hurt
he
was
when
she
left