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(500) Days of Summer

Movie Grade: A

DVD Features Grade: A-

Overall Grade: A

After having seen the cinematic decay of Matthew Goode‘s masculinity in Leap Year very recently, it was like a breath of fresh air to have the opportunity to see a top notch romantic comedy. Unlike the assembly line styled romantic comedies that turn the stomachs of most men, (500) Days of Summer supplies a different, and more enjoyable structure that at some points actually favors the male viewers far more than the female. As trivial as that may seem, it really turns a film of this genre on its head.

Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is an average guy, with just a hint of hipster tossed into the mix, working at a greeting card company. Tom also has an unchangeable idea that he will someday meet “the one.” In an act of poor judgment, he takes that to be his boss’ new assistant, Summer (Zooey Deschanel). The two date casually because Summer is against the idea of a relationship, but things don’t stay very casual for long. After a while Tom becomes progressively more attached to the seemingly receptive Summer. This is why it comes as a shock to Tom when Summer leaves him and he recaps their entire relationship.

It’s interesting to see the male not only take the lead in this film, but also take the hit in the relationship, and even more so that after recalling all the major points in their relationship Tom thinks back and realizes that things weren’t always at their best even though it may initially seemed that way. It’s almost like a tribute to the misguided feelings that everyone succumbs to after one relationship or another. At some point we always glorify something that was riddled with flaws out of the grief of losing it all.

To address the point that has been raised so many times in this review already, THE WOMAN IS THE BAD GUY! It even goes against the titled of bad guy for it to be a female character, but here we have it: it isn’t unheard of in cinema, but virtually non-existent in the romantic comedy genre which tends so loyally to their female demographic. After all the recapping and running into Summer in his post-relationship vulnerability, Tom realizes the coldness Summer had put out at times, and the insensitivity she showed by dancing with him at a co-workers wedding even though she had already moved on.

Even more important than what is in the film is what was left out of it – just kidding. Yeah, there are the usual deleted/alternative scenes on this DVD. Don’t take the backhanded comment too seriously, there is nothing particularly terribly about any of the scenes, but none of them would have added anything to the film. There was no point where I

thought, “Hey, why haven’t I gotten an unnecessary and incredibly short scene with Tom’s parents?” There is also a follow up to dancing montage scene where it attempts to recreate itself but Tom is depressed and everything follows suit. To be frank, if that were in the film it would have wreaked by the addition.

Don’t take this as making (500) Days of Summer to be a pure-blooded guy movie, or even a movie that sets out to bash women. This is just the rare occasion that a romantic comedy has come out that guys can watch with their girlfriends and not feel completely ostracized from the target audience of the film. If a rugged manly-man were to rent this for his rugged manly-man heterosexual friends, they would probably wind up tossing this in the trash, but if you are expecting a cheesy, estrogen filled, cookie-cutter romantic comedy then you are horribly mistaken.

Movie Grade: A

DVD Features Grade: A-

Overall Grade: A