(500) Days of Summer

Joseph Gordon Levitt + Zooey Deschanel + The Smiths= Awesome.

I was cautiously optimistic going into this one. I really enjoyed the trailer and also enjoy the soundtrack, but I've been burned in the past by the "non-traditional" romantic-comedy. They tend to be every bit as sappy and devoid of testosterone as most traditional rom-coms are. I'm looking at you, The Break-Up starring Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston.

(500) Days of Summer hits a lot of the usual romantic-comedy story beats, but manages to do so without ever feeling too cliche. There are enough unexpected moments throughout the script to keep even the most jaded cynic interested.

Joseph Gordon Levitt has made some very interesting film choices (The Lookout, Brick) over the past few years, while the always adorable Zooey Deschanel seems to base her roles off of the advice from a magic 8-ball (The Happening, Tin Man). This is a career high for both of them.

One final note: as many of you already know, Sony scrapped production on Spider-Man 4 a couple of weeks back and removed the entire original cast and crew from the project. A reboot (yay?) of the franchise went into production almost immediately, and (500) Days of Summer director Marc Webb is at the helm. It'll be interesting to see what he does with the material.

4.5/5