HEADLINES:
R/€ 
R/£ Sweeping you off your feet
December 04, 2009 Edition 1
CHRISTY LEMIRE
****
(500) DAYS OF SUMMER. Directed by Marc Webb, with Zooey Deschanel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Clark Gregg, Minka Kelly, Rachel Boston, Matthew Gray Gublert and Chloe Moretz.
Review: CHRISTY LEMIRE
BOY meets girl, boy loses girl, boy tries to win girl back: it's a tale you've heard a million times before. But it's told in such an inventive way in (500) Days of Summer, it almost feels like the first time.
First-time film director Marc Webb enlivens proceedings with a cheeky dance sequence, perfect song choices and the clever use of a split screen.
And the script from Scott Neustadter and Michael H Weber keeps things moving by jumping back and forth in time between Day 500, Day 1 and everywhere in between; the structure also creates a feeling of curiosity throughout, because we know this relationship is doomed, we just don't know how it falls apart. We watch it all unfold with bemusement and dread through the lovelorn eyes of Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Tom Hansen, a would-be architect toiling away at a greeting card company. Tom thinks he's found the perfect woman in Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel), his boss's beautiful new assistant who's just arrived in Los Angeles.
(500) Days of Summer allows Tom to regale us with memories of this life-altering romance - and because they're his memories, told entirely from his perspective, they're more than a little romanticised. Why she turns suddenly cold is baffling to him, and to us; she told him at the start that she didn't want anything serious, but it all seemed to be going so well.
Then again, she's meant to be an elusive concept. Like the season she's named for, she clearly can't stick around forever.
Gordon-Levitt makes us feel for Tom throughout. Unlike the whirlwind romance of (500) Days of Summer, this is a career that's clearly made to last. - Sapa-AP
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