The Brewhaha on..."(500) Days of Summer"

“She’s just a girl.  She’s just a girl, who wants to keep it casual.  Which is why she’s in my bedroom right now, but that’s casual.  That’s what casual people do.”
-The male lead, before walking back in to have sex with the mistress of the mixed message

“This is a story of boy meets girl, but you should know upfront:  This is not a love story.”
-The narrator

“Boy meets girl, boy loses girl. It's been done to emo death. That's why the sublimely smart-sexy-joyful-sad (500) Days of Summer hits you like a blast of pure romantic oxygen.”
-Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

“Dude, this movie will change your life!  It’ll help you get over that stupid girl of yours!”
-A buddy of mine

“What?”
-Me

So goes the hype (and criticism) for the 2009 romance flick that isn’t quite a romance flick, (500) Days of Summer, the story of the highs, the lows, and everything in between for a young man who falls in love, falls out of love, and struggles to find out which is which.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt (from “3rd Rock From the Sun,” as well as that one movie where he’s stuck in a dream) plays Tom, the character who acts as a stand-in for every male ever and has a job writing messages for greeting cards.  (I wish I was making that up.)  Our hero and greeting card specialist ends up falling in love with the title character, played by Zooey Deschanel.  From there, the rest is history—five hundred days of history, to be exact. 

The plot progresses in a non-linear fashion, moving back and forth along Tom’s spell with Summer, almost as if Tom himself is looking back on his time with her.  One minute he’s breaking plates to liven up his kitchen and drown out the pain of his breakup, the next he’s at his desk, seeing Summer for the first time.  You see him dancing through the street following the above quote at the beginning, and then you see him a year later, dragging himself in to work after another lonely, sleepless night.  (Again, I wish I was making the “dancing” part up.)

Summer, for her part, is the girl we would all want.  She’s smart, beautiful, and apparently into indie music.  Most importantly, though, she’s also in love with our friendly neighborhood greeting card writer…for, oh, about the first 250 days. 

The important thing about this particular picture is that it is not a love story.  This is a story about two kids who happen to be in love, or who happen to think they are in love, or possibly are trying to decide what “love” really is.  In fact, the plot is driven by Summer’s own struggle to discover true love, or to even so much as figure out what true love means to her.  Without her discovery of true love, there basically is no movie.

In all honesty, the ending left me with a bad taste in my mouth for a moment.  Obviously the movie is called “500 Days of Summer,” rather than “‘Til Death Do Us Part” or “I Will Always Love You.”  Or “Diamonds Are Forever…Until They Die Hard.”  With this in mind, you can pretty much guess how it ends.  Unfortunately, if one takes the ending at face value, the moral of the story becomes less a matter of defining love and how we deal with it, and more a matter of, “Hey, since you’re here, babe…”

The truth, though, is that this isn’t a romance movie.  Or a romantic comedy, even.  It has elements of romance and comedy, but overall this movie doesn’t fall square into either of those categories.  It’s more of an unrelenting, realistic look at what “love” really means.  The fact of the matter is that “one and only” in our lives may not actually be our one and only, which is why we shouldn’t be taking our love lives so seriously.  The fact of the matter is this is a “romance” movie from guys, about guys, for guys.  Especially for guys who have ever come out of a really bad breakup, or are simply having a hard time with the women in their lives.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, it’s okay if you want to just be friends, Jenny Beckman.  I realize you weren’t looking for anything serious, and I can respect that, Jenny Beckman.  I don’t even need you, Jenny Beckman.  So get out of my life, Jenny Beckman.  Yeah, and take those “Twilight” books with you, Jenny Olivia Beckman.  (God, that is such a hot name…)

So overall, is “(500) Days of Summer” a good movie?  Yes it is.  Is it a great movie?  Yeah…no.  Like I said before, the ending was a tad bittersweet in my book, and it left me thinking, “Nah, I don’t think so.”  Again, this is a good movie, this is a really, really good movie, but the “meh” ending is just enough to keep it from being a great movie.  That being said, this movie is also a refreshing take on the very overused “boy meets girl” formula, and I would definitely say it’s worth checking out.

Note:  The Brewksy is an enthusiastic contributor and movie reviewer,
With a very nice desk and office.
But in his darkest hour, when he’s lost his love, his heart, his very life to her,
He must find his Quantum of Solace…