500 Days of Summer (2009) (Theatrical) - 9/10

Saw 500 Days of Summer at a sneak preview tonight and I was not prepared for how original and close to home this movie hit, a real breakthrough indie that tells you right away that it's "not a love story". There are numerous reasons why this movie surprised me but first off Joseph Gordon Levitt and Zoey Deschanel are just fantastic as the weird outsiders who work for a greeting card company who slowly become friends yet don't want to put a "label" on things. I absolutely loved the way the movie used the counter of days he's been with Summer and didn't start at the beginning but instead jumps all over the place to show the happy, sad, and miserable parts. There were really creative uses of taking the characters outside reality by putting them in old movies to reflect their current feelings or have him break into a huge song and dance scene after he sleeps with her for the first time. I guess for me this movie is exactly what happened to me so I identified with Tom's character more than anyone I've ever seen in a romantic comedy. The seconday buddies were fantastic in calling him out like all friends do and the way that we see their relationship mature with little details that pop up later to haunt him really was well played. One example would be showing a joke farther down that falls flat only to cut a few minutes later to earlier when they actually created it and had it work next. Overall, this movie is fantastic, a crowd pleaser that delivers on everything from life meanings to moving on from those relationships that you thought would last forever. This idea that looking back you only choose to see the good things rings true as the person who I thought was the one turned out not to be and as I look back, I'm better for realizing it now because of this terrific film.