(500) Days of Summer

**** (out of 4)

"(500) Days of Summer" is a wonderful film; poignant, funny, heartbreaking and true. In a lesser movie the unorthodox narrative structure might overshadow how perfectly the film captures all the nuances of a relationship from start to finish, but in this case it makes the movie even more moving.

The story is simple; it chronicles the relationship, from beginning to end, of Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Summer (Zooey Deschanel.) The title refers to the 500 days of their relationship from the first time Tom sees Summer across the office until...well, I won't spoil it. The story jumps around to different days and different moments of the relationship, and the brilliance of the movie is how the structure makes the overall narrative thread even more satisfying.

Tom writes slogans for a greeting card company, having left his dream of becoming an architect behind. One day he sees the new secretary across the office. Summer is everything he's ever wanted in a woman, and even though she says she doesn't want a relationship, he falls head over heels in love with her. The scene after their first night together completely captures the elation of a new relationship, because every guy feels like Han Solo at some point.

The performances of Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Tom and Zoe Deschanel as Summer are key to the success of the film. It is Tom's story; Gordon-Levitt is a subtle actor, and like Paul Giamatti or Philip Seymour Hoffman he can convey layers of emotion with a glance or a slight movement. Deschanel is radiant as Summer and you can understand why Tom falls for her. She makes Summer sympathetic even as she is breaking Tom's heart.

According to the Internet Movie Database the film's writers, Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber have only one other screenplay to their credit: "The Pink Panther 2." How any one could have seen the extraordinary talent of these two buried in that movie I don't know, but thank goodness someone gave this one a look.

The film is full of moments both hilarious and cringeworthy, and the reason they feel so heightened is that we've all experienced those moments, either from Tom's or Summer's perspective. It's been a long time since I've been so fully invested in characters like this. "(500) Days of the Summer" is one of the best films of the year.