Review: 500 Days of Summer

I was excited to see 500 Days of Summer. I think most people I knew were excited about this movie. This is punctuated by the fact that I mostly hang out with the type of people who pretend not to judge you by their taste in movies and music and then totally judge you on your taste in movies and music. And I think that 500 Days of Summer was made with a very specific target audience in mind. And the thing was, it was a pretty okay movie. There were parts that were moving, and parts that were cheesy, and in all it balanced out to pretty okay. I'd even recommend it on a general basis.

I suppose it just isn't what I was expecting. It certainly wasn't a comedy in the way it seemed to be projected by the previews, which is true of a vast majority of movies I've seen this year (Sunshine Cleaning, anyone?) but I was kind of okay with that. I will give many accolades to Joseph Gordon-Levitt. With a different actor in the role, Tom could have either seemed hokey or flat, and luckily Gordon-Levitt handles the role deftly. He has the exact combo of self-deprecation and cheekiness needed to envelope a role in a movie of this type. Not everyone can pull off a dance scene with monochromatic dancers in a park and animated birds. The dance scene, by the way, was excellent. I won't give too much a way, but I will say this: Hall & Oates. I can't fault anyone for that scene, it was pure gold.

As for Zooey Deschanel, she did alright. She's a perfectly good actress and while I don't feel compelled to nominate her for an Oscar anytime soon, it does seem that if the role weren't written specifically for her, she did a good job of making it seem that way. One thing I will note is that I didn't find her character likeable, really. I'm not sure if she was even supposed to be necessarily, but I think I was just surprised at that reaction. Any more on the matter might serve as a spoiler, so I'll drop it. Her outfits were off the charts adorable, though, and she's ridiculously cute 100% of the time. Her delivery just makes you want to hug at every turn.

All in all, I think its important to go into this movie expecting exactly as much as I did: a cute movie that will remind you at every turn just how cute it seeks to be. And if you're the kind of person who is fine with that, then you'll definitely like this movie. Especially if you're the kind of person who is fine with that AND secretly believes in the soul-binding power of The Smiths.