Movie Review: 500 Days of Summer

I have to admit - Friday was not a good day for me. I was inundated at work, odd things had been going wrong with my computer all week and I was nearly hit by two different cars on the 101 who's drivers were talking on their cell phones when they decided to merge into my lane while I was right next to them. So I was very much in the mood for a blow em up type movie like District 9. But since I planned to see that on Sunday (review to come sometime this week) we decided to keep to our original plan to see 500 Days of Summer. And wow, am I glad we did.

This is a charming little movie about the highs and lows of a 500 day relationship between Summer and Tom, two co-workers at a greeting card company. The first thing you find out is that this relationship does end but we get to see how they get there - the highs and the lows - all playing out in a somewhat random order since you are bounced between the beginning, middle and end of the relationship throughout the movie. And it really works well.

Zoey Deschanel is very lovely as Summer, who doesn't really want a relationship with Tom but gives out so many mixed signals that poor Tom is just never really sure what's going on. Joseph Gordon Levitt as Tom is a revelation. He's grown up extremely well and his acting in this is superb. You can't help but feel for Tom throughout the movie and curse Summer for not appreciating just how much he loves her.

I strongly recommend this movie. It can make a bad day much better, I'm proof of that. I came out of the movie relaxed and happy and that's always a good thing.