05/03/10 - (500) Days of Summer

(500) Days of Summer (2009, 95 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1022603/

This movie is a rewatch of a movie I have already written about. The previous post is here:
12/08/09 - (500) Days of Summer

Most of my comments still stand here. Any avid reader out there though will notice that I did bump up the rating from the original 6/10 to a 7/10. This decision on the film was basically what prompted me to give it another watch.

Sadly, the issue of Summer not being that great of a love interest remains. Sure, she's adorable as everything and her acting isn't the standard terrible Zooey quality but her character just isn't likable to me. Too flaky, she never really convinces me that her and Tom would be a good fit for each other. Seeing as how this is pretty important, I still have to knock the film for this.

So why did I bump it up? Well, it's basically three reasons. First, (500) Days of Summer has about four scenes that are just amazing. The two main ones here are the dance number and the final montage of Tom getting his act together while he applies to do architecture work. Both of these are set to amazing songs which really helps. I have come to love the soundtrack even more since my first viewing, frequently finding myself listening to quite a few of the songs. This was actually a huge factor in this increased rating so that was the second reason. The last reason is actually just how the film is shot. It frequently has these amazing cuts that just serve really well to make a point. The best in my opinion being one specific cut when Tom enters an elevator extremely happy (following the dance number) but leaves the elevator in complete gloom due to the change of day (now no longer being with Summer). It's really cool.

A lesser thing but something worthy of comment: Arend is completely hilarious as McKenzie. Though he's really only used in a couple of scenes, he completely steals each one. Be it in his goofy look or his pretty witty dialogue or his general buffoonery, he's a really great character.

Overall, I gave this film a 7/10 again. Basically this post was just to give further insight into this boosted rating. (500) Days of Summer captures a specific mood really well but it has some major flaws. It's still really fun to watch.