Why I will always love (500) Days of Summer.

Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. Girl doesn't.

(500) Days of Summer is one of my favourite films. I watch it when I'm happy, I watch it when I'm sad, I watch it whenever. The best thing about my favourite films is that I can watch them time and time again, knowing full well the ending, but anticipating a different one each time. I think that may just be the key to a successful film; they have the power to allow one person to think they can change the outcome of the story. What I love so much about (500) Days of Summer is the storyline. I admire Zooey Deschanel's character because she encapsulates the position, stereotypically speaking, men adopt. The I'm-not-looking-for-anything-serious stance, in which it's normally the female whom gets attached and ends up heartbroken. Isn't it so refreshing, girls, to see the man upset? As unkind as it sounds, it is nice to know boys hurt too. 

Together Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt effortlessly create the perfect modern-day 'alternative' couple. Deschanel is the nonchalant female with a cold, yet intriguing, take on love and relationships. Perhaps what is most intriguing about her character is the ability to appear so closed off, emotionally speaking. At crucial moments in the film that warrant emotion, guilt or even tears Summer (Deschanel) maintains a calm daze that would unsettle even the most experienced dater. In heavy contrast Gordon-Levitt is the hopeless romantic spending his life waiting to meet 'the one'. It's clear to see that their oxymoronic characters were destined for distaster, yet this painful side to romance occurs time and time again in reality. In this sense one could question why we believe the apparent wise person who once told us that "opposites attract". 

I don't know anybody who couldn't relate to the Expectations/Reality scene. I find myself squirming, just wanting to change the course of action so that Gordon-Levitt's expectations are met. Instead, against our will, we are inflicted to adopt the role of a voyeur seeing every inch of Gordon-Levitt's pain and heartbreak. This scene holds every possibility of realism and believability and I believe it's scenes like this that make the film so relatable.

Perhaps unrealistically so Deschanel and Gordon-Levitt both live in somewhat spacey New York apartments, given that they work in a greetings card firm in what appears to be the lower level jobs. This aspect however happens in most programmes or films, take Friends for example. Well, it just wouldn't be any fun watching them couped up in a broom cupboard sized apartment struggling to pay rent every episode, now would it? 

This single annoyance aside, (500) Days of Summer remains to be one of my favourite films. If you're yet to watch it, then it's safe to say you're definitely missing out.