Amy Wang500 Days of Hype?
September 22nd 2009 15:53
I expected SOOOOOOOOOO much from 500 Days of Summer, I don't think any film could've lived up to the standards. Let's just say I was told to expect the Eternal Sunshine of this generation. Now firstly, Eternal Sunshine isn't even that old, so already, I was a little skeptical and second, after watching this film, it was confirmed that this film did not even land in the same league or portrayed the same themes as Eternal Sunshine. Now don't get me wrong, this film was a terrific, well executed film by a first time film director Marc Webb, who had previously only had experience in the music video stage, but this film was by no means everlasting or dramatically groundbreaking. Yes, the film had a nice twist. The boy fell in love and the girl didn't. But the film did not grip me by the hair and drag me on an emotional rollercoaster. Now, that doesn't sound very enticing being dragged by the hair, but when it comes to these films, I want it to be resonating. I want it to stick with me when I finish and think to myself wow. When IMDB has this film as part of its top 250 (not that I agree with all of them), I want it to be worthy. And it didn't quite get there for me.
Overall Plot
The storyline in the film follows a pretty standard arc. A boy meets a girl. He falls in love with her and sees her as 'the one', the girl breaks his heart and....I won't spoil the end. The only difference is that the film is cut up into sections and jumps between the various days as the two characters progress in their relationship. It jumps from say 300 days to when they first meet on the 1st day. It was interesting to see the relationship develop even though the audience knew how it was going to end. The way the characters interacted and the acting on both actors' behalf were superb. I don't think any girl could've gone out of the cinemas not in love with Tom (played by Joseph Gordan-Levitt) and jealous of Summer's beauty (played by Zooey Deschanel).
This film is what I consider to be a charming film. It sucks you in with its seeming authenticity, its beautiful characters, its ability to relate to ordinary people and its ordinary yet extraordinary storyline. However, it does not stray as far as I would've liked for to stray away from the conventional love story. It still in a way remains within the genre and along with a few twists, tries to convince the audience of its authenticity and its 'indie simplicity'. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed this film and this film is so much better than most of the trashy 'romantic comedies' Hollywood dishes out, but I just think this film could've gone one step further to really emotionally invest an audience.
There were plenty of good things in the film. For instance, the development of the characters and the way the characters reacted to eachother and to the various situations were all very realistic and often had components of great comedy within. The heartache that Joseph Gordan Levitt's character felt could really be felt by the audience and the distant feel of Zooey's character, Summer were also very well established. The ultimate messages the filmmaker tried to convey throughout the film were also very clear by the end.
Overall, the film gave the conventional romantic comedy a nice twist. It had strong actors leading the way, a very very nice soundtrack! and a tight script to work with. I give this film 4 STARS OUT OF 5.
Peace out.
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Comment by Wilson Pon
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Honestly, I were expected more from Zooey, but in this case, I was a little bit disappointed here.
The final rating: 7 out of 10!
Comment by Michelle Sweeney
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Comment by Anonymous
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Review up @ www.cinemarat.com
Cheers - CR.