Let's start off by saying, this is NOT a love story.

I'll be honest, when I first decided to go see (500) Days of Summer, I was seeing it for Zooey Deschanel. She's beautiful, she's a wonderful actress, and her voice is like heaven. It also doesn't hurt that she's engaged to Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard (as much as it pains me, I won't talk about music. Or my insane love for DCFC). I know I may have been a little late to the party, but really, she had me in the first notes of her rendition of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" in the movie Elf. But this post is about a movie, not an actress.

While I tend to shy away from Indie films (I have a tendency to find them a bit pretentious), I must say that (500) Days of Summer was a pleasant surprise for me. I almost groaned audibly as I realized that the timeline jumped around instead of staying in chronological order (I usually get frustrated as I spend half the movie figuring out the when rather than the what is happening), but in this movie, it worked. I found that the uneven timeline added value and further depth to the story, rather than detracting from the plot as a needless distraction. And the acting was good, to boot!

I'll admit I was afraid that I'd have constant 3rd Rock from the Sun flashbacks while watching Joseph Gordon-Levitt on screen, but he did a fantastic job. His portrayal of Tom (a failed architect turned greeting card writer) was surprisingly refreshing. Considering every male character in this genre tends to give me the same vibe (let's face it, they're wusses), I was surprised to find myself sympathising with him despite the gender role reversal central to the movie's theme. He's pushing for commitment from Deschanel's character, Summer, while she claims she's "not looking for anything serious."

While this deviation from typical gender stereotypes could've easily turned me off to the movie (frankly, I like my men to be men), I thought it was an interesting take on modern relationships. But that's all I'll say about that. Moving to less controversial subjects...

The karaoke scenes. Hilarious, and well-executed. I almost jumped out of my chair in excitement as Zooey Deschanel stepped up to the mic for her rendition of "Sugartown." Seeing how this would've been my second seemingly irrational response to a song in the movie (I'd already freaked out in the beginning as Regina Spektor played within the first five minutes), I restrained myself. Then, I entirely pre-judged Gordon-Levitt, thinking he'd be painfully awful when it was his turn for drunken karaoke. In reality, he was pretty damn good.

Did I mention how excited I am about the soundtrack? Especially when I found out She & Him was on it.

I feel like I should apologize that the thoughts and assorted ramblings in this post seem randomly thrown together. There's so much to say about this movie, and I'm having some difficulty getting it all in while trying not to put you to sleep with copious amounts of words.

All in all, I was glad that the movie felt like a realistic depiction of real-life events, just as I felt it had promised me. It's nice when things surpass your expectations (however cynical those may be), and (500) Days of Summer certainly did the trick for me.

Letty