(500) Days of Summer (2009)

An offbeat romantic comedy about a woman who doesn't believe true love exists, and the young man who falls for her.

Director:

Marc Webb

Writers:

Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber

Stars:

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel, Geoffrey Arend

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 10 wins & 22 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Joseph Gordon-Levitt	...	Tom
Zooey Deschanel	...	Summer
Geoffrey Arend	...	McKenzie
Chloë Grace Moretz	...	Rachel
Matthew Gray Gubler	...	Paul
Clark Gregg	...	Vance
Patricia Belcher	...	Millie
Rachel Boston	...	Alison
Minka Kelly	...	Autumn - Girl at interview
Charles Walker	...	Millie's New Husband
Ian Reed Kesler	...	Douche
Darryl Alan Reed	...	Bus Driver
Valente Rodriguez	...	Employee #1
Yvette Nicole Brown	...	New Secretary
Nicole Vicius	...	Partygoer

Storyline

After it looks as if she's left his life for good this time, Tom Hansen reflects back on the just over one year that he knew Summer Finn. Despite being physically average in almost every respect, Summer had always attracted the attention of men, Tom included. For Tom, it was love at first sight when she walked into the greeting card company where he worked, she the new administrative assistant. Soon, Tom knew that Summer was the woman with whom he wanted to spend the rest of his life. Although Summer did not believe in relationships or boyfriends - in her assertion, real life will always ultimately get in the way - Tom and Summer became more than just friends. Through the trials and tribulations of Tom and Summer's so-called relationship, Tom could always count on the advice of his two best friends, McKenzie and Paul. However, it is Tom's adolescent sister, Rachel, who is his voice of reason. After all is said and done, Tom is the one who ultimately has to make the choice to listen or...

---

Plot Keywords:

summer | love | friend | greeting card | office | 

---

Taglines:

It was almost like falling in love.

---

Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sexual material and language

Details

Official Sites:

Fox Searchlight [United States] Official site [Australia]

Country:

USA

Language:

English French Swedish

Release Date:

7 August 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

500 Days of Summer

Filming Locations:

Bradbury Building - 304 S. Broadway, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$7,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£1,242,631 (UK) (4 September 2009)

Gross:

$32,391,374 (USA) (20 November 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fox Searchlight Pictures, Watermark, Dune Entertainment III

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color Black and White (some sequences)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Joseph Gordon-Levitt wears T-shirts for Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and "Unknown Pleasures", and The Clash's "London Calling" albums.

---

Goofs

On day 303 early in the film, Tom receives an e-mail from Summer that she can't meet that week and hopes that means he's ready to be friends. The e-mail is dated May 7, 2008. On Day 500, Tom awaits an interview and the narrator says it was May 23. This is inconsistent with the rest of the movie which seems to be set in 2006 and early 2007.

---

Quotes

Summer: Well, you know, I guess it's 'cause I was sitting in a deli and reading Dorian Gray and a guy comes up to me and asks me about it and... now he's my husband.
Tom: Yeah. And... so?
Summer: So, what if I'd gone to the movies? What if I had gone somewhere else for lunch? What if I'd gotten there 10 minutes later? It was - it was meant to be. And... I just kept thinking... Tom was right.
Tom: No.
Summer: Yeah, I did.
[laughs]
Summer: I did. It just wasn't me that you were right about.

---

Crazy Credits

At the beginning of the movie, before the title, a disclaimer states: AUTHOR'S NOTE: The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any persons living or dead is purely coincidental. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Especially you Jenny Beckman. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Bitch.

---

Connections

Featured in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #21.42 (2012)

---

Soundtracks

"At Last"
Music by Harry Warren
Lyrics by Mack Gordon
Performed by Kevin Michael
Kevin Michael performs courtesy of Downtown Records/Atlantic Recording Corp.

User Reviews

A love story deftly built on unrequited love.

I haven't seen a romance this touching since I was the same type of single sad sack as depicted by the hero of (500) Days of Summer.

Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) has his radar up for "the girl of his dreams" when he meets Summer (Zooey Deschanel). Too bad for Tom Summer is stuck on friends-with-benefits mode. Let the tension begin.

Director Marc Webb captures the feeling of innocent, naïve love expertly. Anyone who has taken the lyrics of the Smiths too closely to heart, would be moved by the idea of the person they are crushing on sing to them: "To die by your side/is such a heavenly way to die." No wonder Tom soon falls head over heels for this girl.

As events unfold out of sequence, you know all along Tom has fallen for a time bomb of a woman, and he can't even see the countdown. When that bomb finally blows up in his face, it unfolds with powerful simplicity-- no exposition or dialog, just two juxtaposed events that capture the heartache of reality hitting a person who sees a person through the filter of some deep-seeded emotions that where planted at too young an age.

So many romantic films nowadays concern themselves with cute ideas, take 'He's Just Not That Into You' or 'Serendipity' for example. Then there are movies like 'Knocked Up' where a pot-smoking, video-gaming playing narcissistic slob tries to turn his life around to try and be a father. These movies forget about real people. Who cares about stock or cartoonish characters in love. The couple in (500) Days of Summer have true chemistry. There are some beautiful, subtle moments of tenderness as well some heart-rending moments of disconnectedness between the two that never comes across as heavy-handed. The movie constantly reminds you that these are two different people with different ideas of a relationship, yet they stubbornly continue their dating, and they remain lovable all the same.

An omniscient narrator sets the film up early on by noting "this is not a love story," but few films ever capture the sensation of falling in love as well as this movie does.