(500) Days of Summer

In most of my reviews up to now, I’ve tried to interject some information on how the movie or material relates to me.  It’s an easy way to begin writing because, well, I know me.  So I write what I know, and there is only one way to really know anything- by learning.  However fortunate or unfortunate, life for me is turning out to be one big lesson, with the biggest teacher definitely being relationships.  Relating to people is not like math problems or history facts.  People can be similar yet so INCREDIBLY different at the same time.  Friends, girlfriends, family, strangers; they’ve all taught me very different things.  Sometimes those lessons even contradict themselves.  I’ve just tried to repeat what has worked well and learn from everything else.

(500) Days of Summer is based on relationship experience and lessons learned by screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber.  The film takes you to a place where this unconventional fiction is created from reality.  That creation is of a world we know, following a man and woman who have one of the most identifiable relationships put on screen in recent memory.  Steering clear of spoilers, the script is easily related to while nothing about the story or its methods are generic.

With the amount of screen time the script requires of Tom – played by Joshua Gordan-Levitz – it puts much of the film on his shoulders.  The same goes for co-star Zooey Deschanel as Summer.  Luckily they both carry the story like professional body-builders.  Chemistry between them could have also been an issue for such a seemingly realistic relationship, but not here.  You feel what they are going through because it’s woven with a fine thread on screen.  Congratulations to the people in casting.  Ms. Deschanel and Mr. Levitz have very natural auras (can’t believe I just used that word…but it’s true) in the sense you might catch them hanging out in a record store in your own town.

My over-arching reason for enjoying this movie as much as I did was the direction by Marc Webb.  He channels the script into a piece that feels personal, as if the characters and experiences are familiar to him too.  Creatively he brings Mr. Neustadter and Mr.Weber’s writing to life with a mixture of their funky songs and transitions, and they work fantastic-like.  A single scene sort of blew my mind as well technically; so much so that I almost started trying to work out how the hell he did it while watching the movie.  You stumped me sir, well played.

(500) Days of Summer shows you its cards right from the beginning. How the game plays out is the reason to see it.  As a guy that’s been in similar situations like the ones walked through in the film, I can honestly say I connected with the material.  That’s the same feeling I think most audiences will have whether something similar has occurred with their relationships or not.  And even if they can’t exactly relate, how are you going to stay away from a well written, finely portrayed, and lovingly made film?  Go see this while it is still in theaters.

As a companion piece of sorts for after the film, check out the podcast Creative Screenwriting ( ) for a Q&A session with screenwriter Scott Neustadter.  The insights to the film are wonderful and it’s one of my favorite podcasts and magazines.  (No they did not pay me to write this and I doubt they know we exist).

_Gregg