4 stars: Love is a tough thing when you don't know why it ends

No one really quite knows the exact reasons why there relationship ends or how it ended in the first place or why it came to end the way it did. All we know is that the relationship is over and there is nothing we can do about it they have moved on so should we however, that is sometimes easier said that done. Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)   knows this all too well as h e has just broken up with his loveless, girlfriend Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel). He is wreck after there break-up  he has lost his kind nature  and feels disjointed and lost in the world like he  has had his heart ripped out and had her do the Mexican hat dance all over it. Tom is depressed and lonely but thanks to his friends (Geoffrey Arend and Matthew Gray Gubler) and an extraordinarily smart little girl who seems to be an expert on relationships (Chloe Moretz). Tom looks back on the 500 days of his relationship with Summer trying to find out what went wrong and what he could have done differently if he only had a second chance.

There is a scene of dialogue that opens this film stating, "This is not a love story, this is a story about love" and that is the entire basis for this film story. This is not a love story a love story is where you see a sequences of events and happenings that lead two people to find one another. Then in a big mush climax they admit there love for one another  while the poignant and very sappy music plays in the background  while the girl finally finds her knight in shining armor or the boy finally finds his princess. It is a tried and rundown formula that has plagued the romance genre for the last 30 years,  now here we are  in the 21st century and we still get these sappy and at some points very cringe inducing conclusions to these cliché love stories that makes audiences scoff, scoff because they have seen it hundreds thousands of times before. "(500) Days of Summer” does not suffer from those worn out clichés It instead does something daring, something that few romantic comedies would never dare to do  it takes a wholly  original story, premise, plot and an excellent and highly intelligent script and puts them together to form one of the greatest romantic comedies ever made. Trust me when I say this I never have said that about a movie from this genre I am proud to say that "(500) Days of Summer" is the romantic comedy I have been waiting for all my movie watching days. Better yet, it is the film I had really no idea I was waiting for. "(500)" Days of Summer" is a glorious film a beautiful that exemplifies the nature of love with all its high and its lows. This is a beautiful film, a touching film; a film that never seems to lie to you as if most romantic comedies do. Its straightforward and honest which is  surprising  at times due to the fact that most films of this sub-genre are never honest about love  they lie to the audience about what love really is and try with all there might to make  us believe  that the two arguing bickering sorely mismatched couple we are suppose to believe are in love with each are actually right for each other  case in point being "Sleepless in Seattle"(Meg Ryan plays a woman who stalks Tom Hanks because she thinks he is the one after hearing him on a radio talk show), "The Ugly Truth"(Katherine Hiegl plays an annoying control freak daytime talk show  producer who clashes with a chauvinistic talks show host play by Gerard Butler).  "(500) Days of Summer" is the answer to this sub-genres prayers and to moviegoers prayers  its a real romantic comedy that forgoes all the idiotic ways previous and far less impressive films have tried to pull off "(500) Days of Summer" does without a hitch and makes seeing the ways of love onscreen enjoyable once again.

"(500) Days of Summer" is a beautiful film  not only works as an effective romantic comedy but also as an absorbing drama and character study of theses intriguing people and I don't just mean the main characters. The supporting characters are also intriguing as well Particularly Chloe Moretz as the kid psychiatrist who helps Tom sort out his troubled past with Summer. This film is fresh, original and hip not because it has an original story but because  it takes it time to develop its group of very diverse characters and at sometimes strange imagination scenes when Tom just drifts off into his own dream world. in one instance in particular  when Tom finally admits he is in love with Summer  he goes outside and engages in an 80's styled  dance sequences to Hall & Oates "You make my dreams come true" its a fantastic sequence  that shows Tom's love(at the time) for his new girlfriend Summer and also establishes  the film's tone and mood throughout. Director Marc Webb's bright, clever, funny, touching offbeat  look at love is a film that not only defines expectations it leaves the audience feeling all warm and fuzzy on the inside making you leave this movie with a smile on your face.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is one of my all time favorite actors he is one of the very few actors today who is still interested in masking good films instead of just making movies to get a paycheck. Levitt never cops out  he stands his ground and stars in films that matter and actually have merit to them much like Rian Johnson's  "BRICK"(2005), Scott Frank's   "The LOOKOUT"(2007), Christopher Nolan's "Inception"(2010)  and Marc Webb's "(500) Days of Summer". Over the course of a decade Levitt has amassed a very respectable and admirable line of work, grant it some of his films are not that admirable, but Levitt is one of the few remaining actors who never gives into the Hollywood mold and strives to make movies that he feels are worth his time. In Marc Webb's "(500) Days of Summer" Levitt turns in what can possible be called the best and most honest performance of his career as hopeless romantic Tom Hansen. Levitt is honest, caring, and straightforward   and his character Tom believes in love with all his heart and soul while his newfound love Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel) thinks love is for kids and thinks Tom is naive for thinking that love has any place in this rational world. Levitt does not play Tom like the typical archetype rom-com male lead, he instead plays him as if he is a regular guy not some macho chauvinistic jackass who thinks he is Gods gift to Women (Gerard Butler in "The Ugly Truth,” Mel Gibson in “What Women Want"). Tom is a normal guy that any guy could relate to  his problems are real so that is why the film feels real   if Tom's troubles were like they were in an A typical rom-com than this film would fall apart at the seams. Thankfully it doesn't thanks to in part to a wonderful award worthy performances from Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel, magnificent writing from Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber  and on the mark direction from Marc Webb  helps make  "(500) Days of Summer"  the most offbeat gleefully enjoyable comedy of 2009. I love Zooey Deschanel I love everything about her in this film (except the fact that her character Summer does not believe in love). Deschanel I always overlooked as an actress she just seemed like another pretty face in the roster of not so talented actress that have been coming out of the wood works lately. Deschanel is a breath of fresh air in this genre and her performance in some ways makes me think of Diane Keaton in Woody Allen's "Annie Hall"(1977) (which in actuality this film has been compared to). Deschanel is beautiful, mysterious, and somewhat mystifying as the loveless Summer Finn. The greatest parts of this film  is the way you see the crucial and more romantic points in Tom and Summer's relationship  and also how the audience is show the lows of there relationship as well the writing allows for Levitt and her to roam freely in this quirky world of there. It gives the film an added sense of joy and sadness that works well with the films subject matter. The heart and soul of this picture are the stars if there have ever been more perfectly cast stars than look no further than this pitch perfect film. Deschanel and Levitt are at the top of there game in this sweet and deliciously entertaining film. The rest of the cast including Clark Gregg, Chloe Mortez, Patricia Belcher, Matthew Gray Gubler, and Geoffrey Arend deliver fine supporting performances in one of the best films of 2009. 

Some may find "(500) Days of Summer"  pretentious, too offbeat, cynical and too colorful and fantastical to be taken seriously  but I am here to tell you that this is the kind of film that  can be taken seriously due to the  realistic nature of its  subject matter. Director Marc Webb and his writer weave an entertaining, funny, and at times dramatic look into a story about love and how painful at times love can be. This film is not one to miss by those who love a good laugh, a good one-liner, or a good dramatic moment “(500) Days of Summer" is the movie  for you.