500 Days of Summer (2009) **½I recently sat down with Astrid, Calisto, and Dave to watch the much-acclaimed 2009 indie romantic comedy 500 Days of Summer, staring Zooey Deshanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Knowing that I already liked the casting and the concept (the story of a doomed Gen-Y relationship told, Memento style, chrono-illogical) I set my expectations-meter to about medium, figuring that I'd enjoy it, but it wouldn't quite live up to all the hype. I'm sad to report that the hype is indeed way wrong. What it's got going for it: engaging performances by both leads and a story predicated on the self-determination of a free-spirited woman, at least, until she loses her self-determination. What it's got against it is cliché-heavy dialogue and a plot that succumbs to rom-com conventionality where it ought to have broken with tradition in order to convey any shred of emotional truth in the end. The fairy-tale conclusion fits in with the film's pretty set design and cinematography, producing a contemporary Los Angeles so white and white-washed it looks like Harvard Square in the '50s.
What's that star rating mean, anyway?
6 comments:
honestly, it's been a few weeks, and I can barely remember what the movie was about.
i do remember that the main character had a very good, quirky relationship with his little sister. i'd love to see a movie give more depth to the brother-sister story line.
Yeah, I liked the precocious sister character. But even if you don't, I remember your eye rolls by the end! :)
Yeah. I probably did do that (the eye roll), didn't I? :))
I was only able to get through about 20 minutes of this movie before I turned it off and found something else to do.
@Alex, heh!
I am indeed the rapscallion!
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