I have a thing about movies that end with one line that makes the whole film suddenly come alive. It dates back to the original version of The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 in 1974, where the entire movie hinges on a sneeze and the look on Walter Matthau's face. It happened again at the very end of Casino Royale, where one line from Daniel Craig totally redeemed the entire movie for me. And it occurs once more in the quirky rom-com (500) Days of Summer, when Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) comes totally to grips with losing his girlfriend with the very last spoken line of the film.
(500) Days is about the relationship between Tom and Summer (the always beguiling Zooey Deschanel, destined to greatness on the strength of her real name, no doubt). Their quirky (there's that word again) office romance is shown through a series of flashbacks and flash forwards over the 500 days that they know each other. Tom and Summer work at a greeting card company, and a fairly lame one at that, run by nice guy boss Mr. Vance (Clark Gregg from TV's The New Adventures of Old Christine, and--surprisingly--an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the Iron Man movies). Tom is a failed architecture student who pays the bills by exerting minimal creative energy by writing cards ("Have you tried...'merry?'"). He falls for Summer the minute he sees her, wrapped up in a since-childhood obsession with finding "The One." (No, it's not like The Matrix.) Tom thinks Summer is "The One" right away, but Summer doesn't agree. She's leery of love, relationships, and such affairs of the heart.
Their relationship progresses until it falls apart, a victim of "life" as Summer puts it, and as we go through the days (charmingly shown out of order), we see Tom's life on a roller coaster ride. The end comes when they go to see The Graduate together. Tom has a tragic misunderstanding of the movie, one that Summer evidently doesn't share. And that's where life intervenes.
Both Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel are wonderful in (500) Days. In fact, both seem to be born to play their roles. Gordon-Levitt, who came to fame as a child actor in the awful and hammy 3rd Rock from the Sun TV sitcom, has grown up to be one of the indie world's most versatile actors, with starring roles in great films such as Brick, The Lookout, and The Brothers Bloom, all quirky (sigh...) and wonderful flicks (we'll forget his role in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra this summer). But (500) Days is a film apart, one of those memorable movies that will have lasting power for everyone who sees it. It's a 2000s equivalent of great rom-coms of "yore," such as When Harry Met Sally (albeit for a different audience), and on a par with that film when it comes to great performances and characters.
Comments