Mark Webb delivers another unconventional and excellent rom-com for the calendar year, filing his film with originality, style, plenty of laughs, and a pair of great performances from his boy and girl leads.
The film on the surface is your classic boy meets girl story, but our narrator warns us early on that this is not a love story. With that said though, you can’t help but get swept up in the love tale being told on the screen as we watch Tom and Summer court each other. The funny thing is the film opens with the day right after their break up and Tom having to be talked off a ledge, figuratively, by his little sister over the loss. We are then thrown into the couple’s back story from Day 1 when they met up ending with the 500th day of their intertwined lives.
The film is filled with quirk, coolness, and style. Both of our leads are smart and hip people, but are in no way pretentious at the same time and Mark Webb and company do a fantastic job of creating something that feels real and genuine, even amongst some fantastical moments. Tom’s thought process is genuine and too rarely seen in films these days for a guy’s perspective. Insecure at times and a bit shy and awkward he is easy to identify with and his trials and tribulations are something we can all connect with. Summer on the other hand is written as the perfect type of girlfriend type but not the kind of girlfriend Hollywood tries to force down our throats. She is real and beautiful and fun and we can easily see why Tom falls head over heals for her. [Read more...]