(500) Days of Summer

(500) Days of Summer may have been my least favorite movie of the last few months. Completely overrated and a bit unhinged, this little romantic comedy trips awkwardly along. I desperately wanted to like this movie since the two leads were so adorable in every other movie and TV show that they've been in. Actually, I've only seen Joseph Gordon-Levitt in 10 Things I hate about You, but he's garnered some top reviews in the past few years.

The main issue for me is that this is a movie about young love, and I don't enjoy movies about young people, and rarely about love. As talented as they are, I couldn't get rid of the feeling that Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as Tom and Summer, were kids playing at being grown-ups. Tom and Summer make an adorable, charming couple, but one never gets the feeling that there's real depth in their relationship. Note to the producer: young man whining desperately like a love-sick puppy combined with an emotionally distant but bohemian hot-house flower does not produce a satisfying relationship. Neither Tom nor Summer were actually annoying, but they seriously lack chemistry. Another note: Zooey Deschanel's big blue orbs do not automatically produce chemistry. The movie is supposed to be light, but what's a girl to think when there are random bits of extreme melancholy strewn about?

When the movie begins, Tom is working as a greeting card writer, and is so bored that he automatically spends 100% of his abundant free time dreaming about Summer (the new personal assistant) when she suddenly arrives in a cloud of bohemian charm and wide-eyed wonder. They date for a while (it's clear who's more invested in the relationship), then Tom spends the rest of the movie mopey and catatonic as his little sister (who has more balls than him by far) and his friends try to make him forget Summer. Meanwhile, Summer inhabits a completely different universe and goes through the movie blithely and believing even less in love than I do, but somehow gets happiness. This is also patently unfair. What happened to rewarding effort? Stupid stupid love.

There are some good moments in the story, but not enough to smooth over the inconsistencies and bumps that appear more frequently in the latter half. The conceit of jumping back and forth through the 500 days was far more clever than the actual plot. While it's lovely that the people in charge wanted a piece that screamed independent and hip, they might have put more effort into the final product (besides the soundtrack, which was hip and comfortable).