Revisiting "500 Days Of Summer," One Of The Most Perfectly Imperfect Movies Ever Made

I remember the first time I saw this movie. It was in theaters at NCG Cinema in Lansing during the summer of 2009. That summer did not last 500 days (waka waka). I was about to be going into 8th grade. When I first saw it, I enjoyed it. I didn't love it by any means. I remember actively rooting for it to lose the Best Musical Or Comedy category to "The Hangover" that year at the Golden Globes (which it did). These were the things I worried about in my teen years. But not loving a true-to-life romantic comedy is the trap you run into when you start reviewing movies at a young age. It's hard to grade something when you haven't lived a single day as an adult. 

I have flaws with this movie. I hate that it's jam-packed full of that 2000's hipster-ness. It's the best movie ever made by someone who likes to wear ironic t-shirts and exclusively listens to indie music. The humor ranges from chuckle-worthy to occasionally cringe, like the quirky best friends, the child actor who bizarrely is more knowledgeable than the main adult characters, and of course, the awkward, unrealistic scene in which the main character talks to themselves in a mirror. Seriously, do people do that? And this last complaint might be unpopular, but I've never liked Zooey Deschanel that much. This is easily her best performance, but I still find her incredibly one note.

This is one of those movies where the things I don't like are flaws I can't stand, but the things it does right, it does almost perfectly. When a movie so flawlessly hits its target, you're willing to overlook many flaws. Because of this, "500 Days Of Summer" remains the gold standard for the dying genre of romantic comedy. Marc Webb's direction is so inspired here. I love the way the film is edited. It doesn't feel like a single shot is wasted, and it uses many unique storytelling techniques. It's too bad Avi Arad and the fools over at Sony never gave Webb a fair shot because he could've done some remarkable things with Spider-Man. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is excellent in this movie. For real, how has this man not been nominated for an Oscar? He should've been nominated for this movie, and he should've won for "50/50" two years later. This performance was when he was in the middle of a great heater, and this is among his best work.

The reason I'm writing this blog, and why I'll always have love for this movie, is it's almost startling just how relatable it is. I pulled the Leonardo DiCaprio meme like a million times in this movie. 

This movie is flawless in how well it captures the innocence of love and the emotional weight of heartbreak. I know that sentence was incredibly pretentious, but Castellani is a hopeless romantic. Pretension is a big part of my life. "500 Days Of Summer" is a remarkably paradoxical movie because it perfectly captures humanity almost inhumanely. The film goes out of its way to say that it's not a love story but hardly a tragedy. It's one of the only movies to preach the importance of heartbreak and how easily a person can grow from it, even if it takes time. It's not a perfect movie, but it's a perfect movie for anyone who has ever been hung up on a woman. 

I watched it on Hulu the other night. It's worth your time.