I have been saying this a lot lately and since (500) Days of Summer has expanded to 800 theatres I get say it again. I thought this film was great. Everything about the movie I enjoyed. The way that it was able to tell a realistic story by balancing real life situations with fantasy scenes was perfect.
This is director Marc Webb’s first feature film though he has around 90 music videos under his belt. His background is obvious in the film and that is a very good thing. (500) jumps back and forth in time showing different parts of Zooey Deschanel’s and Joseph Gordon Leavitt’s relationship. In a way the film is told in small segments and that is why Marc Webb is so suited to the film. One of my favourite scenes is a split frame showing the same scene but one is Leavitt’s characters expectations and the other is reality. A similar thing was done in Webb’s music videos for Maroon 5 (you can watch it below). It was done much better in (500). As a starting point for a director’s career you couldn’t ask for a better film.
The casting of Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon Leavitt was a great choice as they have a good natural chemistry. The supporting cast isn’t very large, but there are good performances from Geoffrey Arend (Garden State) and Matthew Gray Gubler (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou) who play Leavitt’s roommates.
(500) is a great collection of set pieces that are tied together by a coherent storyline. It is interesting that this was written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H Webber who each have only one other writing credit, that being Pink Panther 2. You have to pay the bills somehow.
A Golden Banana
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