review: (500) days of summer

Synopsis: An offbeat romantic comedy about a woman (Zooey Deschanel) who doesn’t believe true love exists, and the young man (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who falls for her. (imdb.com)

My thoughts:

• One of the things that you can expect from an indie movie is a “real” ending. One that isn’t necessarily happy and picture perfect. And given how this movie starts (with a disclaimer of: this is not a love story), you can guess that it isn’t going to end well. But what made this movie so great was seeing how the relationship evolved. How they went from beginning to end, good to bad.
• I also liked the way the movie was presented (non-linear; there was even a counter to tell us what day it is) and some of the cool random scenes/effects they added.
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt is so underrated as an actor. He was perfect as the hopeless romantic guy plus there’s just something so likable about him. And he’s cute too!
• Same goes for Zooey Deschanel. She tends to do a lot of quirky indie type roles but she’s just so good at them! Definitely one of my favorite actresses.
• Great soundtrack, all the songs they picked fit each scene really well.

Overall, I really liked it! It was a good balance of likable characters, romance, comedy, quirky effects and.. hopeful despite a less than “perfect Hollywood ending”.