(500) Days of Summer - 2009 - Marc Webb

(500) Days of Summer is not as good as the films that it cribs from and I get the feeling that it will be forgotten in five years. Annie Hall works because Woody Allen knows how to play with the audiance without taking you out of the film, Marc Webb knows it can be done and has an idea but all of the music video style tricks fall flat. Trying to do too much with a story that does not need it is a mistake that you can expect from a music video director but it is still distracting. Also the use of voiceover is not needed and takes away from the film.

With my main gripes out of the way I can get on with liking this movie more than it deserivers. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel are both solid and the supporting cast, mainly Geoffrey Arend and Matthew Gray Gubler is top notch.

The movie made my inner hipster cheer with delight throughout but there are also a couple of things that were legitimately worthy of praise. The soundtrack is outstanding, better than the movie. Summer is a character that does not fall into being any more or less than she represents herself as to Tom. There is a point in the movie in which a character blatantly spells out the fact that Summer is not as bad as Tom believes at the time. Summer is an unusually honest person and that is what makes her appealing.

The advice giving little sister was not needed and the ending is to precious for it's own good, though it has shades of Eternal Sunshine, but, there is enough to like about the film that I could recommend it to almost anyone.