“You should know up front, this is not a love story,” a lugubrious voice intones at the start of (500) Days of Summer.  I had been anxious to see this film since viewing the first trailer, and this seemed a promising start.  (500) Days of Summer has some great gimmicks and many enjoyable moments, as it takes a fresh look at the course of a relationship. But the relationship between Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Summer (Zooey Deschanel) is ultimately not compelling enough to sustain the film and seems unworthy of such scrutiny.

Tom and Summer work together at a greeting card company, although Tom dreams of becoming an architect.  Tom is in love with Summer and wants a committed relationship.  Summer claims to not want commitment. Tom is happy when he is with Summer and in great pain when she breaks up with him. The film takes place in L.A., but it sure looks funkier than I remember. Apparently, people in L.A. do a lot of walking and rarely use their cars.  Tom and Summer frequently walk hand in hand to trendy coffee shops and record stores. Tom has the required nerdy and annoying friends helping him analyze the relationship. He gets better advice from Rachel (Chloe Moretz), his wise and precocious kid sister.

(500) Days of Summer examines, out of sequence, the relationship between Summer and Tom, from before their first meeting, past their break up and the days in between.  A graphic announces the day in the relationship, and at first, the days seems random. I appreciate the point that it is difficult to find the exact moment when a relationship begins or ends.  Each moment means something by itself and something different when you look at what happens later or consider the events in the beginning . We see the break-up scene early on and then at the end. But it means something different each time. An early scene at IKEA shows a joking Tom and a not amused Summer.  I felt for Tom, but understood the depth of his pain when the film showed an earlier scene in IKEA.  When Rachel tells Tom that he is only remembering the good times with Summer, the film shifts, and the audience sees some of the bewildering days with Summer, days that Tom could only later realize pointed to the end of the relationship.

A high point in the film is a singing and dancing scene with Tom and strangers on the street. Tom is jubilant after a night with Summer and shows his joy in this musical scene, complete with animated bird. But Enchanted already did this, and did it better. The voice over narration through the film is a bit cloying and too reminiscent of the voice over on the underrated (and now canceled ) television show Pushing Daisies. The fable quality of that show was compatible with that type of voice over; in (500) Days of Summer the voice over seems out of place. The best gimmick and my favorite scene is near the end of the film. Tom goes to a party at Summer’s place and a split screen shows expectations and reality. At first they are identical, but then the audience sees slight differences in the scenes.  But in these slight differences are the gaping gulf between expectations and reality. This was a powerful scene, but I wanted more scenes like this.  The main problem with the film is the many ordinary scenes. The scenes are not that funny (Summer yells penis in a crowded park) and they lack depth.  What was so great about this relationship? Summer is a bit of a cipher and her appeal is mystifying. The scenes of the couple in happier times seem forced and uninspired.

Zooey Deschanel, so charming in films like Elf, cannot make Summer likable. Even in the scenes of happy times, Summer seems remote, and Tom’s infatuation seems based on very little. That may be the point, but it does not make for an engaging film.  Rachel seems to see her brother’s relationship clearly when she says, “Just because she likes the same bizzaro crap you do doesn’t mean she’s your soul mate.” Chloe Moretz is cute and funny and turns in a lovely performance.  Rachel’s scenes with Tom are warm and real, and their relationship is the interesting one in this film.   I enjoyed Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s performance as the confused young man in The Lookout as well as his performance as the quirky high school detective in Brick.  But I am not sure he has what is needed to be a romantic lead in a film.  Neither Gordon-Levitt nor Deschanel can compensate for places in the film that need better writing.

(500) Days of Summer has garnered very good reviews, many from respected critics. Perhaps that is because they, like me, appreciate the clever gimmicks in this unpretentious film. I wish more films had those qualities. Perhaps I am so disappointed because like Summer herself, this film has so much potential.  (500) Days of Summer is mildly entertaining, but it should have been so much better.

(500) Days of Summer.  Directed by Marc Webb.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Tom Hansen), Zooey Deschanel (Summer Finn), Chloe Moretz (Rachel Hansen), Geoffrey Arend(McKenzie) and Mathew Gray Gubler (Paul). Columbial Pictures, 2009.

 

Gail sees a movie appears every Wednesday.

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