Year: 2009
Running Time: 95 Minutes
Rated: PG-13
SRP: $39.99
Studio(s): Fox Searchlight Pictures
Release Date: December 22, 2009

Film/Feature: B+
Ladies, excuse me for a second while I ask the men out there a question. Hey guys, have you ever been in love or thought you’ve been in love with someone who just crushes your heart? Then you just can’t seem to get over them? Ever have these great expectations of what that relationship was and then come to grips with the very different reality of the situation? (500) Days of Summer is that remedy you need to help get that girl out of your system.

Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a cynical writer at a greeting card company who happened to stuck there for the past three years on his way to becoming an architect. Then one day the sky turned blue when quirky and arrestingly cute girl named Summer (Zooey Deschanel) walks into his workplace. Summer is his boss’ (Clark Gregg) new assistant and Tom becomes that guy, who’s got to get that girl. Sounds like the basic romantic comedy, right? Wrong. The film’s narrator, (Richard McGonagle) warns you that what you are about to see, is not a love story. He’s right, it’s the exact opposite of that.

The story jumps back and forth from different days in Tom and Summer’s timeline from the first half when things are great, to the dark days in the end. Through these jumps in time we slowly get a full picture as to what went wrong, where it all went bad and also the great things that made this break up so hard on Tom. One look at Deschanel and it’s easy to see how Tom fell for Summer, a girl who’s comfortable in her own skin, and has her reservations of relationships and how abstract love can be. Tom takes it upon himself to challenge her and says that love is everything we see in movies and sappy love songs. Summer is attracted to that resistance and as our main characters slowly open up to each other, we realize that Summer’s point of view is based in reality, whereas Tom’s is rooted in destiny.

The film surfaces love’s ambiguities and challenges certainly, but it also reminds us that love has its moments where you wake up feeling great because of who you’re with. Basking in the afterglow of their first night together, Tom leads us to one of the more memorable scenes of the year, set to Hall & Oats song, “You Make My Dreams,” Tom is as high as can be, only to be taken down the ladder as the next scene flashes forward, hundreds of days later when that emotion has worn off. Gordon-Levitt portrays both that misery and elation with such honesty and bravery, while Deschanel can do so much with a flip of her eyes or tip of her head. You’ll find yourself rooting for both sides because each sells their side so well.

Music is a big part of this story, and the lies and goods it sells to us. We are almost conditioned for disappointment. We are brought together by a common interests, but often let those things do the speaking for us instead of really bearing down and saying what we really feel. On display in the film is another silent character, the city of Los Angeles. Director Marc Webb chose to shoot the downtown city of LA to give it this great metropolitan feel. It’s an LA that’s absent of anything related to Hollywood and propels LA as this living city. It’s a refreshing snapshot, and adds to the romance and architectural themes in the story, but I remind you, this is not a love story. It’s the story of growing up and discovering Tom’s own idea of love that’s formed by experience and not just the lyrics of a song or the inside of a greeting card. The only bothersome angle I didn’t like was Tom’s junior high sister, Rachel who happens to be full of sage advice when it comes to relationships and when his life long friends McKenzie (Geoffrey Arend) and Paul (Matthew Gray Gubler) are of no help.

Yes it has clichés of romance stories, but it’s all easily forgivable because what’s being said in the film is very real, and very heart-felt. I love-love-love what Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel bring to this film; their style of acting transports you back a few decades to when you can get lost in the sincerity of the acting and not get so distracted by who they are in real life. The smallness of the film makes it read that much bigger and has that much more impact, and that’s why it did so well at Sundance this past winter. Webb really understood how to take a very intimate story and have it play much bigger.

(500) Days of Summer is the type of comedy that will click with those who love Francois Truffaut films, karaoke bars, indie music mopers who like the Smiths, and Ikea hipsters for sure, but it should also be familiar with those trying to wade out of that funk that’s so easy to get stuck in when coming out of a relationship. (500) Days is a witty, little sardonic look at love; it’s cuteness is contagious, and it’s just that dinner mint of a film you need sometimes to refresh your outlook on life.

Video:A
If you’re a fan of the way films used to look, then you’ll love the way (500) Days looks in this 1080p encoded transfer in a very wide 2.40:1 aspect ratio. There’s this wonderful diffusion going on that gives everything a soft glowing look and that’s the way the film was intended to look, so don’t look for the hyper-level of detail seen in some of the more modern films on blu-ray. There’s still a juicy bouquet of earth tone colors, amidst deep dark blacks, and the screen is almost always full of warm-colored hues reminiscent of the autumn harvest. There is a fine display of natural skin tones throughout, fine grain, and a great balance of contrast keeps frames full of depth and dimension. (500) Days of Summer is just a beautiful looking film.

Audio:B+
(500) Days of Summer’s main audio option is a 5.1 English DTS-HD audio track and in typical romantic comedy fashion, it’s chiefly driven by the dialogue through the center channel. Music is a key part to the film and the entire film opens up whenever a song or melodic score piece flows in. Everything is nicely balanced, there’s no distortion or dialogue that’s too difficult to hear. There’s a minimal amount of panning and surround effects, but this really isn’t the movie that’s designed to do so. Other audio selections include: English for the Visually Impaired, and three 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks in French, Spanish, Portuguese; subtitles are available in English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Thai.

Extras: A
There’s a mixture of standard and high def featurettes, but I wouldn’t ask for any more or any less. It just hits that perfect amount of extras and original content for those who want to delve into the story a bit deeper. Try to leave the commentary for last because that’s the most satisfying supplement. The menus are well-designed, echoing the film’s unique presentation.

Disc 1
Audio Commentary by director Marc Webb, actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and writers Michael Weber and Scott Neustadter. is a lively track full of good discussion and revelations that much of this story comes from the real events in Neustadter’s misfortunes with a former obsession.

Not a Love Story: Making (500) Days of Summer HD (29:21) Is a solid making of featurette that looks to the Webb, the producers, writers, and actors to share their thoughts on the film, production design, the finer parts of downtown Los Angeles, the inspiration of Saul Leiter and representing characters through color.

Deleted and Extended Scenes HD (14:42) there are 10 scenes to zip through with a few of them being real bummers that they didn’t make the final cut. There’s optional commentary with Webb, Gordon-Levitt, and writers Michael Weber and Scott Neustadter.

Filmmaking Specials SD included are a bunch of snippets of what looks like a show on Filmmakers where Webb fielded topical questions about (500) Days. They are Director Marc Webb on Casting Joe and Zooey (2:07) on The Summer Effect (1:35) on French Film References (0:58) and on the Color Palette (1:11). Finally there’s two Fox Movie Channel Presents in Character, with Zooey Deschanel (2:38) and with Joseph Gordon-Levitt (3:08).

Audition Tapes SD (7:00) for Geoffrey Arent (McKenzie), Matthew Gray Gubler (Paul), with optional commentary with Webb.

Summer at Sundance HD (13:46) Watch as the days build towards the premiere at Sundance through the eyes of Director, Marc Webb.

Summer Storyboards SD: Summer Effect(1:36) Reality/Expectations (1:55) Both sets of storyboards come with two angles (storyboards and side-by-side comparisons) to view them with optional commentary with Webb. For The Summer Effect Webb provides two different commentaries about Character and the Look.

Conversations with Zooey and Joseph SD (12:26) The two lead actors share a cup of coffee and have six short conversations discussing acting, Los Angeles, and music.

Mean’s Cinemash: Sid and Nancy/ (500) Days of Summer HD (3:28) playing off of a moment in the film where Summer compares their relationship to cinema’s famous Sid and Nancy where Summer is Sid and Tom is Nancy. Yes, this is as funny as it sounds.

Bank Dance SD (4:18) is a music video starring Deschanel and Gordon-Levitt and is directed by Marc Webb who made a name for himself in this trade. If you find both actors as irresistibly charming as much as me, then you’ll love this adorable musical number.

Music Video SD (4:01) Sweet Disposition by The Temper Trap

Trailers HD (6:29) for Amelia, Fame, and Adam

Disc 2
Digital Copy Disc for downloading onto your computer or portable media device.

Overall Shock Value: A–
I can’t recommend (500) Days of Summer enough. This is one of my favorite films of the year and it hits that need of charming-and-profound-indie-film that hits the sweet spot. Anchored by two terrific performances by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel, there’s an honest idea about love and trying to deal with the reality of love existing in real life as compared to what we’re led to believe through popular culture. Along with a rich and faithful transfer, and solid audio, the blu-ray is everything any fan could hope for. Buy it!