Sundance. "500 Days of Summer"

By David Hudson on 01/19/2009

"The feel-good, Fox Searchlight-y film of the festival, '500 Days of Summer is like 'When Harry Met Sally...' if Sally turned around and repeatedly stabbed Harry in the heart with a toothpick." Cinematical's Erik Davis: "It's an anti-fairytale about a boy who falls head over dress shoes for the kind of girl who doesn't believe in love or fate or any of those cheesy words we often hear mentioned over and over again in this kind of romantic comedy. And yes, '500 Days of Summer' comes with its own pop-centric, gotta-get-it-on-iTunes soundtrack, like a 'Garden State' or a 'Juno' or a 'Wackness'... [I]t doesn't say anything new about boy meets girl; instead, it wins over its audience with a spoonful of style and a giant helping of visual gimmicks that, honestly, make it a pretty fun flick to watch for an hour and a half."

Updated through 1/23.

Kirk Faulkner, blogging for FilmCatcher: "Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zoe Deschanel. For my money, these are the two most interesting, talented and appealing actors in their entire age bracket. Each one brings a gravitas and watchability to the screen that would make any movie at least worth watching (except 'The Happening'; not even Zoe could save that)."

"Stylish feature debut by longtime musicvideo director Marc Webb goes out of its way to take an unconventional approach to telling one of the oldest stories in the book, only to prevail by embracing the fact that the fundamental things apply - a cute leading couple," writes Variety's Todd McCarthy, "a rooting interest in their welfare and a genuine feeling for heartbreak and the belief that life must go on."

"You're not going to understand the girl very well, and you may learn more about the boy than you really want to," notes the Hollywood Reporter's Kirk Honeycutt. "This imbalance throws off some of the comic possibilities of this rom-com-inspite-of-itself, but others will not be denied. The writing is often clever and the overall production playful and intelligent."

"Very sweet if not exactly groundbreaking," notes the Boston Globe's Ty Burr.

Webb answers Filmmaker's query as to how the story was "shaped by the social, technological and economic forces affecting cinema today."

Update: "While it doesn't have the same artistic heft as Woody Allen's brilliant 'Annie Hall,'" writes Tim Grierson for Screen, "'500 Days of Summer' does share with that melancholy film a desire to use unconventional narrative techniques to aggressively examine the mysteries of the human heart, offering fresh insights on the typical boy-meets-girl scenario. Though the film doesn't take itself too seriously, '500 Days of Summer' is an intelligent probing of the difficulties of anyone's first grownup relationship."

Updates, 1/20: Online viewing tip. FirstShowing interviews Webb.

Online viewing tips. FilmCatcher talks with Webb, Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel.

Update, 1/23: "Overall, it's a modest success, slickly produced, enjoyable for its light moments but weighed down by the remainder," writes Robert Davis in Paste.

[Photo: "500 Days of Summer," Fox Searchlight, 2009]

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Tags: 500 Days of Summer, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marc Webb, Sundance 2009, Zoe Deschanel